explain_ui

Overview

manual updated pgrx by Vonng

Version

Build

You can build the RPM / DEB packages for pg_explain_ui using pig build:

pig build pkg pg_explain_ui         # build RPM / DEB packages

Install

You can install pg_explain_ui directly. First, make sure the PGDG and PIGSTY repositories are added and enabled:

pig repo add pgsql -u          # Add repo and update cache

Install the extension using pig or apt/yum/dnf:

• Install
• pig
• dnf
• apt

pig install pg_explain_ui;          # Install for current active PG version

pig ext install -y pg_explain_ui -v 18  # PG 18
pig ext install -y pg_explain_ui -v 17  # PG 17
pig ext install -y pg_explain_ui -v 16  # PG 16
pig ext install -y pg_explain_ui -v 15  # PG 15
pig ext install -y pg_explain_ui -v 14  # PG 14

dnf install -y pg_explain_ui_18       # PG 18
dnf install -y pg_explain_ui_17       # PG 17
dnf install -y pg_explain_ui_16       # PG 16
dnf install -y pg_explain_ui_15       # PG 15
dnf install -y pg_explain_ui_14       # PG 14

apt install -y postgresql-18-pg-explain-ui   # PG 18
apt install -y postgresql-17-pg-explain-ui   # PG 17
apt install -y postgresql-16-pg-explain-ui   # PG 16
apt install -y postgresql-15-pg-explain-ui   # PG 15
apt install -y postgresql-14-pg-explain-ui   # PG 14

Create Extension:

CREATE EXTENSION explain_ui;

Usage

explain_ui: generate visual explain plan URLs from SQL

explain_ui provides a function that takes a SQL query, runs EXPLAIN on it, and uploads the plan to Dalibo’s explain visualizer, returning a shareable URL.

Function

SELECT explain_ui($$
  SELECT b.title, a.name, p.name
  FROM books b
  INNER JOIN authors a ON b.author_id = a.author_id
  INNER JOIN publishers p ON b.publisher_id = p.publisher_id
  ORDER BY b.publication_date DESC
$$);

                    explain_ui
--------------------------------------------------
 https://explain.dalibo.com/plan/ccg2e5fedd913bb7

The function:

1. Runs EXPLAIN (FORMAT JSON) on the provided SQL query
2. Uploads the plan to explain.dalibo.com
3. Returns a URL to the visual plan representation

The visualizer is built on pev2 (PostgreSQL Explain Visualizer 2), providing an interactive graphical view of query execution plans.