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EXPLAIN Visualization

Click Explain in the query editor toolbar, or use Query > Explain Query (default shortcut Cmd+Option+E), to get the execution plan for the current query. Databases with multiple EXPLAIN variants show a dropdown: PostgreSQL offers EXPLAIN (estimated plan) and EXPLAIN ANALYZE (runs the query and shows actual timing); MySQL and MariaDB offer EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN (JSON). Databases with a single variant, like SQLite or DuckDB, show a plain Explain button. Typing an EXPLAIN, EXPLAIN ANALYZE, EXPLAIN FORMAT=JSON, or MariaDB’s ANALYZE FORMAT=JSON statement in the editor and running it opens the same plan viewer, as long as the plan comes back in a single column. Multi-column plans like MySQL’s plain EXPLAIN table stay in the results grid.
EXPLAIN diagram view

EXPLAIN diagram view

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View Modes

Toggle between three views using the segmented control above the results: Diagram shows the plan as boxes connected by arrows, top to bottom. Nodes are color-coded by cost: green (cheap) to red (expensive). Click a node to see full details in a popover. Zoom controls are in the bottom-right corner.
EXPLAIN tree view

EXPLAIN tree view

Tree shows the plan as an expandable outline list. Click a row to see its properties in the detail panel below. Cost and row estimates are shown on the right side of each row. Raw shows the original EXPLAIN output as text, with a copy button and a font size stepper in the toolbar. When the plan includes timing, planning and execution times are shown next to the view switcher.

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Database Support

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Plan Details

Each node in the plan shows:
  • Operation: Seq Scan, Index Scan, Hash Join, Nested Loop, Sort, etc.
  • Table: which table the operation accesses
  • Cost: startup and total cost estimates (PostgreSQL format: 0.00..45.18)
  • Rows: estimated number of rows
  • Actual time: real execution time per node (EXPLAIN ANALYZE only)
Click a node to see all properties including join type, index name, filter conditions, and sort keys.
EXPLAIN does not execute the query. EXPLAIN ANALYZE executes it and shows actual timing; use it cautiously on production systems.