Visual readability for SQL & dbt: distinct base colors for CTEs, derived shades for inner tables/aliases, CTE scope lines, and semantic data type highlighting.
Installation
Launch VS Code Quick Open (Ctrl+P), paste the following command, and press enter.
SQL Prism enhances your SQL development experience by providing deterministic, hierarchical coloring for Common Table Expressions (CTEs), tables, aliases, and column references. It helps you instantly understand the flow of data and scope within complex queries without relying on heavy AST parsers.
Features
Hierarchical CTE Coloring: Each CTE is assigned a distinct base color. Tables and aliases declared inside the CTE receive automatically derived shades (lighter/darker) of that base color to avoid visual collision.
Visual Scope Guides: A subtle, native-looking vertical line connects the start and end of each CTE block in the indentation margin, making it easy to track scope bounds.
Smart Parentheses: Opening and closing parentheses of CTEs perfectly match the base color of their corresponding CTE.
Column Tracking: Qualified column references (e.g., customers.customer_id) automatically inherit the color of their source table or CTE anywhere in the file.
Jinja & dbt Native: Fully compatible with dbt Jinja syntax ({{ ref('model') }}, {% if ... %}). Macros and templating won't break the highlighting.
Extension Settings
This extension contributes the following configurable settings under the Cte category:
sqlPrism.cte.enabled: Enable or disable hierarchical coloring for CTEs, inner tables, and parentheses (Default: true).
sqlPrism.cte.showLine: Show a subtle vertical line on the left side of each CTE block (Default: true).
Installation
Open VS Code.
Go to the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X or Cmd+Shift+X on macOS).
