sql-sp-harness

T-SQL Stored Procedure Debug Harness — turn SQL Server stored procedures into safe, runnable debug scripts you can execute on a pre-production database without writing to real tables.

Not a live debugger. This tool generates a static test harness (DML previews + variable traces), not breakpoints or step-into debugging.

Not affiliated with Microsoft. "SQL Server" and T-SQL are used descriptively only.

What it does

Command	Purpose
analyze	See what keyword elements that procedure contains along with counts — DML, TRY/CATCH, loops, SET, line-level detail
generate	Create a debug harness: real-table DML → SELECT previews, PRINT traces on variables

Output includes a banner on the top of the procedure stating: DEBUG HARNESS — DO NOT RUN ON PRODUCTION.

Install

pip install sql-sp-harness

Requires Python 3.10+.

Verify:

sql-sp-harness version
python -m sql_sp_harness version

Quick start

sql-sp-harness analyze -i MyProc.sql
sql-sp-harness generate -i MyProc.sql -o MyProc_debug.sql

With traces in the Messages tab (default):

sql-sp-harness generate -i MyProc.sql -o MyProc_debug.sql --trace-style print

Development

git clone https://github.com/DeeprajDeveloper/sql-sp-harness.git
cd sql-sp-harness
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

Build for PyPI:

./scripts/publish-pypi.sh
./scripts/publish-pypi.sh upload

File encoding

SSMS often saves scripts as UTF-16 LE (Unicode). Older Windows exports may use Windows-1252 (smart quotes, en-dashes). The CLI auto-detects these; output is always UTF-8. Override with --encoding if needed:

sql-sp-harness generate -i MyProc.sql -o MyProc_debug.sql --encoding utf-16-le

Limitations

Pattern	Behavior
Dynamic SQL	Not analyzed
Encrypted procedures	No source
Cursors	Not rewritten
DDL inside proc	Not stubbed

Always review generated scripts before running them on the database server.

License

MIT