SQRust

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

Catches unused CTEs, SELECT *, unsafe casts, duplicate joins, and hundreds more — in 42ms. 330 rules across 6 categories.

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.

Benchmarked on 495 SQL files (jaffle-shop + attribution-playbook + mrr-playbook, combined real dbt corpus), all tools in ANSI mode:

2× faster than sqruff. 260× 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.

Measured with hyperfine (5+ runs, March 2026, Apple M-series, sqruff v0.34.1, sqlfluff v4.0.4). Run the benchmark yourself.

Selective mode: top 50 rules

Don't need all 330 rules? Use sqrust rules --disable to trim to your essentials. Running just the top 50 most-used rules cuts the time in half:

# See all rules and their current status
sqrust rules

# Disable rules you don't need
sqrust rules --disable Convention/SelectStar

# Filter by category
sqrust rules --category Layout

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

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:12:5: [Convention/SelectStar] Avoid SELECT *; list columns explicitly
models/orders.sql:34:1: [Layout/TrailingWhitespace] Trailing whitespace on line
models/payments.sql:8:24: [Convention/ColonCast] Avoid PostgreSQL-style ::cast; use CAST() instead
models/payments.sql:41:1: [Layout/LongLines] Line exceeds 120 characters (was 143)

Auto-fix (sqrust fmt):

Fixes Layout violations automatically — trailing whitespace, trailing newlines, excess blank lines. Convention, Lint, Structure, and Ambiguous rules are report-only; full auto-fix is on the roadmap.

$ 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/

Rules

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

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

Comparison

¹ Rule counts are not directly comparable across tools. sqlfluff and sqruff rules each apply across many dialects; SQRust's 300 rules are ANSI-only and include granular checks that competitors may combine into fewer, broader rules.

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 300 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.

Pre-commit

# .pre-commit-config.yaml
repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/nafistiham/SQRust
    rev: v0.1.2
    hooks:
      - id: sqrust
        args: [check]

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.

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.

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.

License

MIT