Rainbow SQL

Rainbow SQL makes SQL INSERT statements easier to read by coloring each column and its corresponding values consistently. It also helps you inspect columns and spot rows with a mismatched number of values.

Screenshots

Hover details

Hover over a value to see its column number, name, table, and row position.

Mismatched column / value count detection

Rows whose value count differs from the declared columns are highlighted.

Features

• Matching column and value colors: follow each declared column through one or more VALUES rows.
• Single-row and multi-row statements: supports statements laid out on one line or across multiple lines.
• Column details on hover: inspect the column number, name, table, and row position.
• Active column in the status bar: see the current column while moving through a statement.
• Mismatch detection: identify rows whose value count differs from the declared column count.
• Theme-aware colors: separate palettes for light and dark themes, with customizable colors.
• SQL-aware parsing: handles quoted values, comments, nested expressions, and common identifier quoting styles.

For example, the values are colored to match their corresponding columns:

INSERT INTO items (id, code, price)
VALUES
  (101, 'ITEM_A', 19.99),
  (102, 'ITEM_B', 24.50);

Supported SQL languages

The extension activates for SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, PL/SQL, T-SQL, and SQLite language modes.

Extension settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
rainbowSql.enabled	boolean	true	Enable or disable column highlighting.
rainbowSql.enableHover	boolean	true	Show column details when hovering over values.
rainbowSql.enableStatusBar	boolean	true	Show the active column in the status bar.
rainbowSql.highlightMismatches	boolean	true	Highlight rows with a different number of values than declared columns.
rainbowSql.darkColors	string[]	10 colors	Color palette used with dark themes.
rainbowSql.lightColors	string[]	10 colors	Color palette used with light themes.

Configure these options in VS Code Settings by searching for Rainbow SQL.

Command

Run Rainbow SQL: Toggle Rainbow SQL Highlighting from the Command Palette to turn highlighting on or off.

Questions and issues

If you have a question, find a problem, or would like to suggest an improvement, open an issue on GitHub. For bug reports, include your VS Code version and a small SQL example that demonstrates the issue.

Development

To run the extension from this repository:

1. Open the repository in VS Code.
2. Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.
3. Open sample.sql in the new window.

Run the automated tests with:

npm test

CI and releases

GitHub Actions runs the tests and build on pull requests targeting main or v-next, and when changes are pushed to either branch. To publish a release, add a repository Actions secret named VSCE_PAT, then create and publish a GitHub Release with a tag matching the version in package.json (for example, v0.9.0). The release workflow publishes the extension to the Visual Studio Marketplace and attaches the .vsix package to the GitHub Release.