T-SQL Analyzer: A Tool to Avoid T-SQL Anti-Patterns

Installation

• The tool is a .NET 8 tool and requires the .NET 8 runtime to be installed.
• Running the tool from the command prompt in any folder will analyze all .sql files in that folder and sub-folders.
• The tool outputs a summary of the rules violated and the line numbers where the violations occurred.
• Use tsqlanalyze -h for help on available options.
• To analyze a single file: tsqlanalyze -s [path to file]

Advanced Usage

Ignore Rules

• Exclude specific rules from analysis by adding a rule exclusion filter to the command line.

Format Script

• The tool can format your script using the -f option.

Other Advanced Options

• Analyze a .dacpac file or a live database.
• Output analysis results in XML format.
• Integration with SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio.

VS Code MCP Server (preview)

• Use the tool to ask GitHub Copilot to analyze your SQL Server CREATE scripts in Visual Studio Code by adding the built-in MCP server to your VS Code configuration.
  • Automatic installation:

    vscode:mcp/install?%7B%22name%22%3A%22tsqlanalyzer%22%2C%22command%22%3A%22tsqlanalyze%22%2C%22args%22%3A%5B%22-mcp%22%5D%7D
    

  • Manual installation: tsqlanalyze -mcp

Parting Words

• The T-SQL Analyzer is a free, open-source tool for identifying anti-patterns and design issues in SQL Server T-SQL scripts.
• Reach out via the GitHub repository with any feedback.
• Happy SQL coding!