SQRust

A fast SQL linter written in Rust. The Ruff for SQL.

Catches unused CTEs, SELECT *, unsafe casts, duplicate joins, and hundreds more — in 18ms. 330 rules across 6 categories.

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Why SQRust?

If you use sqlfluff, you know the pain: linting a 200-file dbt project takes minutes in CI. For teams writing ANSI-compatible SQL, SQRust is a faster alternative.

Dialect support: SQRust supports ANSI, BigQuery, Snowflake, DuckDB, PostgreSQL, and MySQL. Set dialect in sqrust.toml or use the --dialect flag to enable dialect-aware parsing.

Two public corpora, all tools in ANSI mode, measured with hyperfine (5+ runs, Apple M-series, sqruff v0.34.1, sqlfluff v4.1.0):

22 files — jaffle-shop + attribution-playbook + mrr-playbook (real dbt projects):

Tool	Time	ANSI rules
SQRust	18 ms	330
sqruff	37 ms	62
sqlfluff 4.1.0	327 ms	73

2× faster than sqruff. 18× faster than sqlfluff.

500 files — Dune Spellbook (complex real-world analytics SQL):

Tool	Time	ANSI rules
SQRust	274 ms	330
sqruff	394 ms	62
sqlfluff 4.1.0	47,839 ms	73

1.4× faster than sqruff. 174× faster than sqlfluff.

Speed numbers are directly comparable — same corpus, same ANSI mode. Rule counts are not directly comparable: sqlfluff and sqruff rules cover 20+ dialects each; SQRust rules are ANSI-only today and include granular dialect-specific checks (e.g. separate rules for Oracle's SYSDATE, NVL2, DUAL table) that won't fire on most projects.

Run the benchmark yourself.

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Install

Homebrew (macOS):

brew install nafistiham/tap/sqrust

One-line installer (macOS / Linux — no Rust required):

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nafistiham/SQRust/main/install.sh | sh

Pre-built binary (manual):

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -sSL https://github.com/nafistiham/SQRust/releases/latest/download/sqrust-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz | tar -xz
sudo mv sqrust /usr/local/bin/

# macOS (Intel)
curl -sSL https://github.com/nafistiham/SQRust/releases/latest/download/sqrust-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz | tar -xz
sudo mv sqrust /usr/local/bin/

# Linux (x86_64)
curl -sSL https://github.com/nafistiham/SQRust/releases/latest/download/sqrust-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz | tar -xz
sudo mv sqrust /usr/local/bin/

For Rust developers:

cargo install sqrust-cli

Build from source:

git clone https://github.com/nafistiham/SQRust.git
cd SQRust
cargo build -p sqrust-cli --release
# binary at: target/release/sqrust

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Usage

# Lint a directory
sqrust check models/

# Lint a single file
sqrust check query.sql

# JSON output (for CI integration)
sqrust check models/ --format json

# Auto-fix layout issues
sqrust fmt models/

# List all rules with enabled/disabled status
sqrust rules

# Enable or disable a specific rule
sqrust rules --disable Convention/SelectStar
sqrust rules --enable Convention/SelectStar

Output:

models/orders.sql:1:1: [Convention/SelectStar] Avoid SELECT *; list columns explicitly
models/orders.sql:34:1: [Layout/TrailingWhitespace] Trailing whitespace
models/payments.sql:8:3: [Convention/ColonCast] PostgreSQL :: cast; use CAST(expr AS type) for portability
models/payments.sql:41:121: [Layout/LongLines] Line is 143 characters, maximum is 120

Auto-fix (sqrust fmt):

Fixes 16 of the 330 rules automatically — trailing whitespace, whitespace before semicolons, excess blank lines, double spaces, spacing around =, , and parentheses, comment spacing, mixed line endings, and a few Convention rewrites (!= → <>, = NULL → IS NULL). The remaining rules are report-only; wider auto-fix is on the roadmap.

sqrust fmt --check reports which files would change without writing them, and exits 1 if any would — use this in CI.

Formatting never rewrites content inside string literals or comments, preserves your existing line endings, and skips any file whose formatted output would no longer parse.

$ sqrust fmt models/
Fixed: models/orders.sql
Fixed: models/payments.sql

Dialect support:

Set dialect in sqrust.toml, or pass --dialect on the command line:

[sqrust]
dialect = "bigquery"   # ansi (default) | bigquery | snowflake | duckdb | postgres | mysql

# Override per-run without editing sqrust.toml
sqrust check --dialect bigquery models/
sqrust fmt --dialect snowflake models/

Supported values: ansi, bigquery, snowflake, duckdb, postgres, postgresql, mysql. Unknown values exit with a clear error.

VS Code extension:

Install from the VS Code Marketplace or search for SQRust in the Extensions panel.

• Lint on save and open — violations appear in the Problems panel
• SQRust: Check File and SQRust: Check Workspace commands
• Configure via settings:
  • sqrust.executablePath — path to binary (default: sqrust on PATH)
  • sqrust.dialect — override dialect per workspace
  • sqrust.enabled — enable/disable linting

GitHub Actions:

- name: Lint SQL
  run: |
    curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nafistiham/SQRust/main/install.sh | sh
    sqrust check models/

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Rules

330 rules across 6 categories, mapped to sqlfluff's catalog where applicable.

Category	Rules	Examples
Convention	69	SelectStar, ColonCast, NotEqual, IsNull, NoIsnullFunction, NoDualTable, NoNvl2
Layout	66	LongLines, TrailingWhitespace, ClauseOnNewLine, GroupByOnNewLine, OrderByOnNewLine
Lint	63	UnusedCte, DuplicateCteNames, DuplicateJoin, SelectWithoutFrom, AddColumnWithoutDefault
Structure	63	WildcardInUnion, NaturalJoin, MaxSelectColumns, LateralJoin, WindowFrameFullPartition
Ambiguous	65	FloatingPointComparison, CastWithoutLength, UnsafeDivision, ConvertFunction
Capitalisation	4	Keywords, Functions, Literals, Types

Full rule list → docs/rules.md · Migration from sqlfluff · Architecture · Changelog

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Comparison

	SQRust	sqruff	sqlfluff
Language	Rust	Rust	Python
Rules (ANSI mode)¹	330	62	73
Speed (22 dbt files, ANSI)	18 ms	37 ms	327 ms
Single binary	✅	✅	❌
Auto-fix	Partial (layout)	✅	✅
Config file	✅	✅	✅
Rule browser CLI	✅	❌	❌
Dialect support	ANSI, BigQuery, Snowflake, DuckDB, Postgres, MySQL	ANSI+	20+ dialects
dbt-ready	✅ (BigQuery, Snowflake, ANSI)	✅	✅

¹ Rule counts are not directly comparable across tools. sqlfluff and sqruff rules each apply across many dialects; SQRust's 330 rules are ANSI-only and include granular checks that competitors may combine into fewer, broader rules.

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Configuration

Create a sqrust.toml in your project root. sqrust automatically finds it by walking up from the path you lint — no flags needed:

[sqrust]
exclude = ["dbt_packages/**", "target/**"]

[rules]
disable = [
    "Convention/SelectStar",
    "Layout/LongLines",
]

All 330 rules are enabled by default. Use disable to turn off specific rules by name, or use sqrust rules --disable <rule> to have it written automatically.

See sqrust.toml.example for a fully annotated template.

v0.2.0 (planned): Ruff-style allowlist — opt into rule categories with select = ["Convention"] instead of opting out. Fields are reserved; using them now gives a clear error.

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Pre-commit

# .pre-commit-config.yaml
repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/nafistiham/SQRust
    rev: v0.1.4
    hooks:
      - id: sqrust
        args: [check]

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Run the Benchmark Yourself

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nafistiham/SQRust/main/bench/benchmark.sh | bash

Or clone and run:

git clone https://github.com/nafistiham/SQRust
cd SQRust/bench
./benchmark.sh            # uses jaffle-shop as corpus
./benchmark.sh /your/dbt/project   # or point at your own project

Requires: hyperfine, sqlfluff, sqruff, sqrust on PATH.

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Contributing

git clone https://github.com/nafistiham/SQRust
cd SQRust
cargo test --workspace   # all tests must pass

Each rule lives in sqrust-rules/src/<category>/<rule_name>.rs with a test file in sqrust-rules/tests/. Every rule has ≥13 tests. We use TDD — tests first.

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Project Status

Active personal project. I use SQRust on my own dbt projects and maintain it actively. v0.1.x is production-ready for ANSI SQL and supports BigQuery, Snowflake, DuckDB, PostgreSQL, and MySQL parsing via the --dialect flag. Dialect-specific lint rules are on the v0.2 roadmap.

Issues and PRs are welcome. If a rule fires incorrectly on your SQL, or you need a rule that isn't here, open an issue.

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License

MIT