Tool: SQLite Query Explainer
Simon Willison’s Weblog
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18th July 2026
Tool
SQLite Query Explainer
— Run SQL queries against a SQLite database in your browser and see exactly how SQLite executes them: the tool runs your query, then annotates every line of both EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN and the low-level EXPLAIN bytecode output with plain-English descriptions of what the query planner and virtual machine are doing.
Julia Evan's, in Learning a few things about running SQLite:
Maybe one day I’ll learn to read a query plan.
Big same.... which inspired me to have Fable build this interactive explain tool, which runs SQLite in Python in Pyodide in Web Assembly in the browser and adds a layer of explanation to the results of both EXPLAIN and EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN.
Approach with caution, since I don't know enough about SQLite query plans to verify the results myself, but it seems cromulent enough to me.
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This is a beat by Simon Willison, posted on 18th July 2026.
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