Dataform SQLX Formatter

Format the .sqlx file you're editing — with exactly the same result as dataform format.

Press Shift+Alt+F (Shift+Option+F on macOS) and only the current file is formatted, by the Dataform CLI's own formatter. No more running dataform format over the whole project, and no more fights with your pre-commit hook or CI.

Before	After

Why this extension?

dataform format is the formatter your team already agreed on, but it only works on the entire project:

• You can't format just the file you're working on.
• Running it touches every unformatted file in the repo, so your PR fills up with unrelated diffs.
• Other SQL formatters in VS Code produce different output, so the dataform format pre-commit hook or CI check rewrites your file again.

This extension copies the current file into a throwaway project, lets the Dataform CLI format it there, and applies the result as a normal editor edit. The output is byte-for-byte what dataform format would produce.

Verified on a real-world project with 332 .sqlx files: every file formatted on its own matched dataform format on the whole project, with both CLI 2.9.0 and 3.0.71.

Features

• Same output as dataform format — uses the CLI you already have installed, not a re-implementation.
• One file at a time — nothing outside the current editor is touched.
• Works like any VS Code formatter — Format Document, Format on Save, and a single Cmd+Z / Ctrl+Z to undo.
• Uppercase keywords with CLI 2.x — optional keywordCase setting. The result is stable under a stock dataform format, so it never fights your hook.
• Won't corrupt broken files — if a file has a syntax error, formatting is skipped instead of mangling your ${...} expressions.
• Dev Containers and remote workspaces — runs on the machine where the Dataform CLI is installed.

Getting started

1. Install the Dataform CLI if you haven't already:

   npm i -g @dataform/cli
   

2. Install this extension.
3. Open a .sqlx file and run Format Document (Shift+Alt+F / Shift+Option+F).

That's it. .sqlx files use this extension as their default formatter automatically.

To format on every save, add this to your settings:

"[sqlx]": {
  "editor.formatOnSave": true
}

Settings

The SQL dialect is read from warehouse in the nearest dataform.json (default: bigquery).

FAQ

Which Dataform CLI versions are supported? 2.x and 3.x. Tested with 2.9.0 and 3.0.71. The extension always uses the CLI you have installed, so the result matches what dataform format gives you on your machine.

Why don't keywords become uppercase? CLI 2.x keeps keywords as you wrote them. Set dataformSqlxFormatter.keywordCase to upper. CLI 3.x always uppercases keywords, so the setting has no effect there.

Will uppercasing keywords conflict with my dataform format pre-commit hook? No. CLI 2.x never changes keyword case, so the uppercased result passes through dataform format unchanged.

Formatting did nothing and a warning appeared. Either the CLI could not format the file (it can't format some complex files), or the file has a syntax error and the result would have corrupted it. The details are in the Dataform SQLX Formatter output channel (View → Output).

"Could not run dataform" The CLI was not found. Install it with npm i -g @dataform/cli, or set dataformSqlxFormatter.dataformPath to its absolute path.

Development

npm install
npm run package          # builds dataform-sqlx-formatter-<version>.vsix

test/verify-against-cli.js checks, on a real Dataform project, that formatting each file on its own matches dataform format on the whole project:

# In a clean git working copy of a Dataform project, format everything without committing,
# so HEAD holds the original files and the working tree holds the CLI's output.
(cd <project> && dataform format .)
node test/verify-against-cli.js <project>                        # compare with the CLI output
node test/verify-against-cli.js <project> --keyword-case=upper   # check stability under the stock CLI

Issues and pull requests are welcome at GitHub.

License

MIT