SQL Lab Extension Points

SQL Lab provides 4 extension points where extensions can contribute custom UI components. Each area serves a specific purpose and supports different types of customizations. These areas will evolve over time as new features are added to SQL Lab.

Layout Overview

┌──────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────┐
│          │                                         │             │
│          │                                         │             │
│          │                Editor                   │             │
│          │                                         │             │
│   Left   │                                         │    Right    │
│  Sidebar ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤   Sidebar   │
│          │                                         │             │
│          │                Panels                   │             │
│          │                                         │             │
│          │                                         │             │
│          │                                         │             │
└──────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┘

Extension Point	ID	Views	Menus	Description
Left Sidebar	sqllab.leftSidebar	—	✓	Menu actions for the database explorer
Editor	sqllab.editor	✓*	✓	Custom editors + toolbar actions
Right Sidebar	sqllab.rightSidebar	✓	—	Custom panels (AI assistants, query analysis)
Panels	sqllab.panels	✓	✓	Custom tabs + toolbar actions (data profiling)

*Editor views are contributed via Editor Contributions, not standard view contributions.

Customization Types

Views

Extensions can add custom views (React components) to Right Sidebar and Panels. Views appear as new panels or tabs in their respective areas.

Menus

Extensions can add toolbar actions to Left Sidebar, Editor, and Panels. Menu contributions support:

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [Button] [Button]   [•••]                                    │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                          Area Content                         │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Action Type	Location	Use Case
Primary Actions	Toolbar buttons	Frequently used actions (e.g., run, refresh, add new)
Secondary Actions	3-dot menu (•••)	Less common actions (e.g., export, settings)

Custom Editors

Extensions can replace the default SQL editor with custom implementations (Monaco, CodeMirror, etc.). See Editor Contributions for details.

Examples

Adding a Panel

This example adds a "Data Profiler" panel to SQL Lab:

{
  "name": "data_profiler",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "frontend": {
    "contributions": {
      "views": {
        "sqllab.panels": [
          {
            "id": "data_profiler.main",
            "name": "Data Profiler"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

import { core } from '@apache-superset/core';
import DataProfilerPanel from './DataProfilerPanel';

export function activate(context) {
  // Register the panel view with the ID declared in extension.json
  const disposable = core.registerView('data_profiler.main', <DataProfilerPanel />);
  context.subscriptions.push(disposable);
}

Adding Actions to the Editor

This example adds primary, secondary, and context actions to the editor:

{
  "name": "query_tools",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "frontend": {
    "contributions": {
      "commands": [
        {
          "command": "query_tools.format",
          "title": "Format Query",
          "icon": "FormatPainterOutlined"
        },
        {
          "command": "query_tools.explain",
          "title": "Explain Query"
        },
        {
          "command": "query_tools.copy_as_cte",
          "title": "Copy as CTE"
        }
      ],
      "menus": {
        "sqllab.editor": {
          "primary": [
            {
              "view": "builtin.editor",
              "command": "query_tools.format"
            }
          ],
          "secondary": [
            {
              "view": "builtin.editor",
              "command": "query_tools.explain"
            }
          ],
          "context": [
            {
              "view": "builtin.editor",
              "command": "query_tools.copy_as_cte"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

import { commands, sqlLab } from '@apache-superset/core';

export function activate(context) {
  // Register the commands declared in extension.json
  const formatCommand = commands.registerCommand(
    'query_tools.format',
    async () => {
      const tab = sqlLab.getCurrentTab();
      if (tab) {
        const editor = await tab.getEditor();
        // Format the SQL query
      }
    },
  );

  const explainCommand = commands.registerCommand(
    'query_tools.explain',
    async () => {
      const tab = sqlLab.getCurrentTab();
      if (tab) {
        const editor = await tab.getEditor();
        // Show query explanation
      }
    },
  );

  const copyAsCteCommand = commands.registerCommand(
    'query_tools.copy_as_cte',
    async () => {
      const tab = sqlLab.getCurrentTab();
      if (tab) {
        const editor = await tab.getEditor();
        // Copy selected text as CTE
      }
    },
  );

  context.subscriptions.push(formatCommand, explainCommand, copyAsCteCommand);
}

Next Steps

• Contribution Types - Learn about other contribution types (commands, menus)
• Development - Set up your development environment
• Quick Start - Build a complete extension