tsqlrefine

T-SQL linter, auto-fixer, and formatter for SQL Server.

Note: This project is currently in early development (pre-1.0). Breaking changes are expected.

Quickstart

# Install
dotnet tool install --global TsqlRefine

# Lint SQL files (warnings and errors are displayed immediately)
tsqlrefine lint path/to/your-sql-files/

Generate a configuration file for your project:

tsqlrefine init

This creates tsqlrefine.json with sensible defaults:

{
  "compatLevel": 150,
  "preset": "recommended"
}

The recommended preset enables 87 rules (out of 130 total). See Preset Rulesets for other options.

For CI pipelines, use JSON output and exit codes:

tsqlrefine lint --output json src/**/*.sql
# Exit code 1 = violations found (fails the build)

See CI Integration Guide for full GitHub Actions / Azure Pipelines / GitLab CI examples.

Features

T-SQL Refine catches problems before execution using static analysis on the SQL script alone — no database connection required. Designed for CI/CD pipelines and offline validation.

Lint - Static Analysis

Detects issues in T-SQL code. Includes 130 built-in rules covering security, correctness, performance, and coding conventions.

Each rule is classified by severity:

• Error — Likely to cause runtime failures or data corruption
• Warning — Valid SQL but risky or discouraged patterns
• Information — Style or maintainability recommendations

This allows teams to gradually enforce stricter rules without blocking development.

# Lint a file
tsqlrefine lint path/to/file.sql

# Lint a directory recursively
tsqlrefine lint path/to/dir

# Lint from stdin
echo "SELECT * FROM users;" | tsqlrefine lint --stdin

# Output as JSON (for CI integration)
tsqlrefine lint --output json path/to/file.sql

Example output:

path/to/file.sql:3:1: warning avoid-select-star: Avoid SELECT *; explicitly list columns
path/to/file.sql:7:5: error missing-where-clause: UPDATE/DELETE without WHERE clause

Fix - Auto-fix

Automatically fixes detected issues. Rules with fixable: true can be auto-fixed.

Safe by design: Auto-fix is applied only to rules explicitly marked as fixable. All fixes are deterministic and syntax-aware — they never produce invalid SQL. Use dry-run mode (the default) to preview changes before writing.

# Preview fixes (dry run)
tsqlrefine fix path/to/file.sql

# Apply fixes to files
tsqlrefine fix --write path/to/file.sql

# Fix all .sql files in a directory
tsqlrefine fix --write path/to/dir

Auto-fix examples:

Before	After
select * from users	SELECT * FROM users
IF @x = NULL	IF @x IS NULL
EXEC('SELECT ...')	EXEC sp_executesql N'SELECT ...'

Format - Code Formatting

Formats T-SQL code to a consistent style. Respects .editorconfig indentation settings.

# Print formatted output to stdout
tsqlrefine format path/to/file.sql

# Format files in-place
tsqlrefine format --write path/to/file.sql

# Format all .sql files in a directory
tsqlrefine format --write path/to/dir

Formatting features:

• Keyword uppercasing (select → SELECT)
• Consistent indentation
• Whitespace normalization
• Trailing whitespace removal

Installation

.NET Global Tool (Recommended)

Available on NuGet.

# Install
dotnet tool install --global TsqlRefine

# Update
dotnet tool update --global TsqlRefine

# Uninstall
dotnet tool uninstall --global TsqlRefine

Local Tool (Project-specific)

dotnet new tool-manifest
dotnet tool install TsqlRefine
dotnet tsqlrefine --help

From Source

git clone https://github.com/masmgr/tsqlrefine.git
cd tsqlrefine
dotnet build src/TsqlRefine.sln -c Release

VS Code Extension

Install the tsqlrefine extension from the VS Code Marketplace for integrated linting, auto-fix, and formatting directly in the editor.

Configuration

Generate Config Files

tsqlrefine init

Creates the following files:

• tsqlrefine.json - Tool configuration
• tsqlrefine.ignore - Exclusion patterns

tsqlrefine.json

{
  "compatLevel": 150,
  "preset": "recommended",
  "plugins": []
}

Preset Rulesets

Preset	Rules	Use Case
security-only	14	Security vulnerabilities and critical safety
pragmatic	43	Production-ready minimum for legacy codebases
recommended	87	Balanced for production (default)
strict-logic	107	Comprehensive correctness without cosmetic rules
strict	130	Maximum enforcement including style

Each preset is a strict superset of the one below: security-only ⊂ pragmatic ⊂ recommended ⊂ strict-logic ⊂ strict

tsqlrefine lint --preset strict path/to/file.sql

.editorconfig

The format command respects indentation settings:

[*.sql]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4

Team Adoption Guide

Gradually introduce tsqlrefine to your team by starting strict on critical issues and expanding over time.

Step 1: Security & Safety (Block PRs)

Start with the security-only preset. These 14 rules catch SQL injection, dangerous procedures, and accidental mass UPDATE/DELETE — issues that should never reach production.

tsqlrefine lint --preset security-only src/**/*.sql

Step 2: Correctness (Expand Coverage)

Move to pragmatic to add 29 correctness rules: duplicate aliases, column count mismatches, undefined references, and other bugs that cause runtime failures.

tsqlrefine lint --preset pragmatic src/**/*.sql

Step 3: Best Practices (Default)

Adopt recommended (the default preset) for full semantic analysis, performance warnings, and transaction handling best practices.

tsqlrefine lint --preset recommended src/**/*.sql

Step 4: Full Enforcement (Optional)

For teams wanting maximum consistency, strict adds naming conventions, formatting rules, and cosmetic checks.

tsqlrefine lint --preset strict src/**/*.sql

Suggested timeline: Start at security-only for 1-2 sprints, then advance one level per sprint. Use per-rule severity overrides to promote specific rules to error as needed.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success (no violations)
1	Rule violations found
2	Parse error
3	Config error
4	Runtime exception

Rules and Plugins

# List built-in rules
tsqlrefine list-rules

# List loaded plugins
tsqlrefine list-plugins

See docs/Rules/README.md for a rules overview, or docs/Rules/REFERENCE.md for the full rule reference.

Documentation

• CLI Specification
• Configuration
• CI Integration Guide
• Editor Integration
• Formatting Options
• Plugin API
• Rules Overview
• Rule Reference

License

MIT License - see LICENSE