I built a VS Code extension to debug MySQL queries step by step

Ariel — Fri, 01 May 2026 17:01:19 +0000

I kept running into SQL queries where the final result looked surprising, but it was hard to understand exactly which part of the query changed the data in that way.

When a query gets larger, reasoning about it from the final output alone becomes annoying. I wanted an easier way to see how the data changed as the query moved forward.

So I built SQL Visual Debugger, a VS Code extension that lets me step through supported MySQL SELECT queries clause by clause and inspect the intermediate result after each stage.

Instead of only seeing the final output, I can see how the rows change throughout the query.

Right now the extension is focused on MySQL and supported SELECT-style query flows.

You can try it here:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=arieldev.sql-visual-debugger

DEV Community: Ariel

I built a VS Code extension to debug MySQL queries step by step