SQL Editor

The SQL Editor lets you run arbitrary SQL queries against your PostgreSQL database from the browser.

Opening the SQL Editor

1. Open Studio at http://127.0.0.1:8080/studio/
2. Click SQL Editor in the left sidebar

Writing and running queries

Type SQL into the editor and press Run (or Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter):

SELECT id, email, created_at
FROM pgstack.users
ORDER BY created_at DESC
LIMIT 10;

The results appear below the editor as a table.

Execution plans

Press Explain to see the planner's execution plan for the current statement. This runs plain EXPLAIN — it plans the query without executing it, so it is always safe to click, even on INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE or a SELECT that calls nextval() or another side-effecting function.

Press Analyze for EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS), which adds real timings and buffer counts — but to do so it executes the statement for real, including any writes, sequence advances, or other side effects. Because there is no reliable way to tell from SQL text whether a statement is pure, Analyze is a separate, explicitly-confirmed action (it asks before running); plain Explain is the safe default.

Multi-statement queries

The SQL editor runs the entire contents of the editor as a single query. For multiple statements, use a transaction:

BEGIN;
INSERT INTO categories (name) VALUES ('Electronics');
INSERT INTO products (name, category_id, price)
VALUES ('Laptop', currval('categories_id_seq'), 999.99);
COMMIT;

Example queries

Check pg_reactive subscriptions

SELECT query_id, subscribed_at
FROM pgr.get_subscriptions();

View auth users

SELECT id, email, role, created_at, raw_user_meta
FROM pgstack.users
ORDER BY created_at DESC;

Count rows per table

SELECT
  schemaname,
  tablename,
  n_live_tup AS estimated_row_count
FROM pg_stat_user_tables
ORDER BY n_live_tup DESC;

Show active connections

SELECT pid, usename, application_name, state, query
FROM pg_stat_activity
WHERE state != 'idle'
ORDER BY state;

Check index usage

SELECT
  schemaname,
  tablename,
  indexname,
  idx_scan AS scans,
  idx_tup_read AS rows_read
FROM pg_stat_user_indexes
ORDER BY idx_scan DESC;

Manage live queries

-- Register a live query
SELECT pgr.subscribe(
  'recent_orders',
  'SELECT id, status, amount FROM orders ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 100'
);

-- List subscriptions
SELECT * FROM pgr.get_subscriptions();

-- Remove a subscription
SELECT pgr.unsubscribe('recent_orders');

Run migrations manually

ALTER TABLE products ADD COLUMN weight_grams INTEGER;
ALTER TABLE products ALTER COLUMN description SET NOT NULL;
CREATE INDEX idx_products_category ON products(category_id);

Query history

The SQL editor keeps a history of your recent queries. Click the History button to see and re-run past queries.

Limitations

• The SQL endpoint is mounted only when the proxy runs with ENABLE_SQL_ENDPOINT=true (the dev docker-compose.yml sets it; default is false). With PGSTACK_ENV=production the proxy refuses to start with the flag enabled, so the SQL Editor is unavailable in production — without the flag, queries fail with 404.
• Studio's SQL endpoint uses the SERVICE_ROLE_KEY — it bypasses RLS. Be careful with destructive queries.
• Bare SELECT/WITH statements run inside a READ ONLY transaction unless they reference pgr. functions; other statements run read-write.
• Very long-running queries (> 60 seconds by default) will time out — the bound is the proxy's HTTP WRITE_TIMEOUT (no PostgreSQL statement_timeout is set).
• The editor is intended for development and debugging. Use migrations for schema changes in production.