Continuing with my takeaways from SQLCon and FabCon Europe in Barcelona, let’s talk about something almost every SQL Server DBA uses: SQL Server Management Studio.There were several SSMS announcements during the keynote, but the one that’s probably going to get the most attention is this:
GitHub Copilot Agent Mode in SSMS is generally available.
Now, before you roll your eyes and say…“Great. Another AI tool that can write a SELECT statement.” This is a little more interesting than that. It’s Not Just Generating T-SQL. What caught my attention about Agent Mode is the ability to work through multi-step database problems. According to the announcement, Agent Mode can use context across your database objects to do things like trace a dependency chain, evaluate an execution plan, generate DDL, and then show you the differences.
That’s much closer to how we actually work. Think about performance tuning. Someone doesn’t normally walk up to me and say: “Monica, could you please optimize line 47 of this query?” I usually get: “The database is slow.” Awesome. My favorite problem description. From there, we start investigating. What changed? Which query is causing the problem? What does the execution plan look like? What objects are involved? What happens if we make a change? Being able to use an AI assistant that understands more of that surrounding context is much more interesting to me than simply generating SQL. But please don’t skip the review button. The part I like most isn’t that Copilot can generate DDL. It’s that the tooling around reviewing what gets generated is also improving.
SQL Projects and Schema Compare in SSMS are now generally available.
That gives us a much better workflow: Generate ? Compare ? Review ? Script ? Commit. Because AI generating a database change is one thing. AI generating a database change and someone blindly running it against production is an entirely different thing. Please don’t do that. Seriously. Don’t make me come find you.
And We Finally Get a SQL Formatter
There was also another announcement that may not sound nearly as exciting: SQL Formatter is generally available in SSMS and the MSSQL extension for VS Code. And somewhere, DBAs everywhere quietly celebrated. As more SQL is generated by applications, ORMs, developers, and now AI, being able to quickly make that code readable matters. Because before I tune your 300-line query…I’d really like to be able to read it.
Where I Think This Gets Interesting
I don’t see these tools replacing the need to understand SQL Server. Actually, I think the opposite may be true. If AI makes it easier to generate queries, indexes, and database changes, then understanding what those changes actually do becomes even more important. I keep saying this! Execution plans still matter! Indexes still matter! Statistics still matter! Waits still matter! And testing before production definitely still matters more than EVER. AI may help us investigate faster and automate some of the tedious work. I’m all for that.
Just remember:
Copilot can make a suggestion. You’re still responsible for what happens when you hit Execute.
The post SSMS Is Getting Smarter—and This Isn’t Just About Writing SQL first appeared on A Shot of SQLEspresso.