Debug-only HTTP server + VS Code extension for inspecting SQLite/Drift databases in Flutter and Dart apps. Two ways to access your data — a browser-based web UI and a full-featured VS Code extension with IDE integration.

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How it works

Your app runs a lightweight debug server that exposes database tables over HTTP. You inspect the data using either a browser or the VS Code extension — both connect to the same server.

	Browser	VS Code Extension
Install	None — open localhost:8642	Install from Marketplace
Works with	Any editor, CI, QA, mobile	VS Code / Cursor
Best for	Quick look, sharing URLs	Daily development workflow

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Features

HTTP Debug Server (core)

The Dart package starts a lightweight HTTP server that exposes your database over a REST API.

Data Browsing

• Table list with row counts
• View rows as JSON with pagination (limit/offset)
• Client-side row filter search
• Foreign key navigation — click FK values to jump to the referenced row, with breadcrumb trail
• Data type display toggle — raw SQLite values or human-readable (epoch → ISO 8601, 0/1 → true/false)
• One-click cell copy on hover with toast notification

Query Tools

• Read-only SQL runner with table/column autocomplete, templates, and query history
• SQL bookmarks — save, name, export/import as JSON
• Visual query builder — SELECT checkboxes, type-aware WHERE clauses, ORDER BY, LIMIT, live SQL preview
• Natural language → SQL — English questions (count, average, latest, group-by) converted via pattern matching
• EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN — color-coded tree (red = table scans, green = index lookups)

Data Visualization

• Charts — bar, pie, line/time-series, histogram from SQL results (pure inline SVG)
• Data anomaly detection — NULLs, empty strings, orphaned FKs, duplicates, numeric outliers with severity icons

Schema & Export

• Collapsible schema panel with CREATE statements
• ER diagram — tables and FK relationship lines; click to navigate
• Export — CSV per table, schema-only SQL, full dump (schema + data), raw SQLite file
• Portable report — self-contained HTML file with all data, schema, and anomalies inlined; opens in any browser with zero dependencies

Snapshots & Comparison

• Snapshot / time travel — capture all table state, compare to current, export diff as JSON
• Database comparison — diff vs another DB (schema match, row counts, migration preview DDL)

Live Features

• Live refresh via long-poll (GET /api/generation) when data changes
• Collaborative sessions — share viewer state as a URL with annotations (1-hour expiry, 50-session cap)

Data Import (opt-in)

• Import CSV, JSON, or SQL files into tables (requires DriftDebugWriteQuery callback)
• Auto-detect format, per-row error reporting, partial import support

Performance & Analytics

• Query performance stats — total queries, slow queries (>100 ms), patterns, recent queries
• Storage size analytics — table sizes, indexes, journal mode

Server Configuration

• Port — default 8642; configurable
• Bind — 0.0.0.0 by default; loopbackOnly: true for 127.0.0.1 only
• CORS — '*', specific origin, or disabled
• Auth — optional Bearer token or HTTP Basic for dev tunnels
• Health — GET /api/health → {"ok": true}

Theme

• Light/dark toggle saved in localStorage

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Flutter Overlay (optional)

• Floating button in debug builds to open the viewer
• Opens in browser (url_launcher) or in-app WebView (webview_flutter)
• Customizable alignment and margin
• Auto-hides when the server stops

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VS Code Extension (separate install)

Install Saropa Drift Advisor (saropa.drift-viewer) from the VS Code Marketplace. See extension/README.md for full configuration and command reference.

Why drift-viewer? The extension was originally a read-only table viewer. It has since grown into a full advisor — with a query builder, schema linter, performance profiler, and more — but the marketplace ID stays drift-viewer to preserve update continuity for existing users.

Database Explorer

• Tree view — tables with row counts, columns with type icons, FK relationships
• Right-click menus — view data, copy name, export CSV, watch, compare rows, profile column, seed, clear, pin, annotate
• Status bar — connection state, multi-server selector, auto-discovery (ports 8642–8649)
• File decoration badges — row counts on Drift table files in the Explorer

Code Intelligence

• Go to Definition (F12) / Peek (Alt+F12) — jump from SQL table/column names in Dart to Drift class definitions
• CodeLens — live row counts and quick actions ("View in Saropa Drift Advisor", "Run Query") on class ... extends Table
• Hover preview — see recent rows when hovering over table class names during debug
• Schema linter — real-time diagnostics for missing indexes, anomalies, constraint violations; quick-fix code actions
• Terminal link integration — clickable SQLite error messages in terminal output

Query Tools

• SQL Notebook (Ctrl+Shift+Q) — multi-statement editor with autocomplete, results grid, inline charts, history, bookmarks
• EXPLAIN panel — color-coded query plan tree with index suggestions
• Watch panel — monitor queries with live polling, diff highlighting, desktop notifications
• SQL snippet library — save, organize, and reuse queries
• Global search (Ctrl+Shift+D) — full-text search across all tables

Schema & Migration

• Schema diff — compare Drift table definitions in code vs runtime schema
• Schema diagram — ER-style visualization with FK relationship lines
• Generate Dart from schema — scaffold Drift table classes from runtime schema
• Isar-to-Drift generator — convert @collection classes to Drift tables (Dart source or JSON schema, configurable embedded/enum strategies)
• Migration preview & code gen — preview DDL, generate migration code
• Migration rollback generator — select any schema change from the timeline and generate reverse SQL + Dart customStatement() code to undo it
• Constraint wizard — interactive FK, unique, and check constraint builder
• Schema documentation generator — export Markdown docs from schema
• Portable report export — generate a self-contained HTML file with table data, schema SQL, and anomaly report; light/dark theme, search, pagination; share via Slack, attach to bug reports, or archive

Data Management

• Data editing — track cell edits, row inserts/deletes; undo/redo; generate SQL from pending changes
• Import wizard — 3-step flow for CSV, JSON, or SQL with auto-format detection and dependency-aware ordering
• Seeder — generate test data per table or bulk (configurable row count and NULL probability)
• Clear table data — delete rows individually, by table, by group, or all

Debugging & Performance

• Query performance panel — live in debug sidebar; slow query detection (>500 ms), timing stats, click to view full SQL
• Query regression detector — tracks per-query baselines across sessions; warns when queries regress beyond threshold
• Data breakpoints — break on table data conditions during debug sessions
• Snapshot timeline — capture snapshots via VS Code timeline, auto-capture on data change, generate changelog
• Database comparison — diff two databases (schema match, row count differences)
• Size analytics dashboard — table sizes, indexes, journal mode
• Column profiler — value distribution, type detection, NULL tracking
• Sampling engine — statistical row sampling for large tables
• Row comparator — side-by-side diff of two rows

Navigation

• FK navigator — click FK values to navigate to parent table with breadcrumb trail
• Lineage tracer — trace data through FK relationships; generate ordered DELETE statements

Sessions & Collaboration

• Share session — snapshot viewer state as a URL with annotations
• Annotations panel — notes on tables and columns; import/export as JSON

Pre-launch Health Checks

• Task provider — wire into launch.json as preLaunchTask
• Three checks: Health Check (connectivity), Anomaly Scan (data quality), Index Coverage (missing indexes)
• Exit code 1 blocks launch on errors; configurable for warnings
• Problem matcher routes output to the Problems panel

Integrations

• Saropa Log Capture bridge — unified timeline, session headers/summaries, three verbosity modes (off / slow-only / all)

Configuration

25+ settings under driftViewer.* — see extension/README.md for the full reference.

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Quick start

1. Add the dependency

From pub.dev:

# pubspec.yaml
dependencies:
  saropa_drift_advisor: ^0.1.0

Path dependency (local or monorepo):

dependencies:
  saropa_drift_advisor:
    path: ../path/to/saropa_drift_advisor

Run flutter pub get or dart pub get.

2. Start the viewer

Drift (one line):

import 'package:saropa_drift_advisor/saropa_drift_advisor.dart';

await myDb.startDriftViewer(enabled: kDebugMode);

This package does not depend on drift; it uses runtime wiring (customSelect(sql).get()). For compile-time type safety, use the callback API below.

Callback API (Drift or raw SQLite):

import 'package:saropa_drift_advisor/saropa_drift_advisor.dart';

await DriftDebugServer.start(
  query: (String sql) async {
    final rows = await myDb.customSelect(sql).get();
    return rows.map((r) => Map<String, dynamic>.from(r.data)).toList();
  },
  enabled: kDebugMode,
);

3. Connect a client

VS Code extension (recommended): Install Saropa Drift Advisor (saropa.drift-viewer) from the Marketplace. It auto-discovers the running server — no configuration needed. On Android emulator, the extension automatically forwards the debug server port when a Flutter/Dart debug session is active.

Browser: Open http://127.0.0.1:8642 (on emulator, run adb forward tcp:8642 tcp:8642 first).

Example app: example/ — from repo root: flutter run -d windows, then connect via VS Code or browser. See example/README.md.

4. View your data

Use the VS Code extension (recommended) or open http://127.0.0.1:8642 in any browser.

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API summary

API	Use when
db.startDriftViewer(enabled: ...)	Drift app; one-line setup (runtime wiring).
DriftDebugServer.start(query: ..., enabled: ...)	Drift or raw SQLite; you supply the query callback.

Common parameters

Parameter	Description
enabled	Typically kDebugMode. If false, server is not started.
port	Default 8642.
loopbackOnly	Bind to loopback only (default false).
corsOrigin	CORS header: '*', specific origin, or null to disable.
authToken	Optional; requests require Bearer token or ?token=. Use for tunnels.
basicAuthUser / basicAuthPassword	Optional; HTTP Basic auth when both set.
getDatabaseBytes	Optional; when set, GET /api/database serves raw SQLite file for download.
queryCompare	Optional; enables database diff vs another DB (e.g. staging).
onLog, onError	Optional; for your logger or debugPrint / print.

• Only one server per process; calling start again when running is a no-op. Use DriftDebugServer.stop() to shut down and restart (e.g. tests or graceful shutdown).
• Health: GET /api/health → {"ok": true}.
• Live refresh: GET /api/generation; use ?since=N to long-poll until generation changes (30s timeout).

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Security

Debug only. Do not enable in production.

• Default bind: 0.0.0.0; use loopbackOnly: true to bind to 127.0.0.1 only.
• Read-only: table listing and table data; SQL runner and EXPLAIN accept read-only SQL (SELECT / WITH ... SELECT only); writes and DDL are rejected. Table/column endpoints use allow-lists; table names and limit/offset are validated.

Secure dev tunnel (ngrok, port forwarding): use authToken or basicAuthUser / basicAuthPassword:

await DriftDebugServer.start(
  query: runQuery,
  enabled: kDebugMode,
  authToken: 'your-secret-token',  // open https://your-tunnel.example/?token=your-secret-token
  // or: basicAuthUser: 'dev', basicAuthPassword: 'pass',
);

With token auth, open https://your-tunnel.example/?token=your-secret-token; the page uses the token for all API calls. You can also send Authorization: Bearer your-secret-token.

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Publishing

From repo root:

python scripts/publish.py dart

The Dart pipeline runs pub.dev score checks (downgrade + analyze, dependency up-to-date) before dry-run. Use python scripts/publish.py for the full menu (Dart, extension, or both).

• Stale override check: python scripts/check_stale_overrides.py [--pubspec PATH] [--flutter] — classifies dependency_overrides as required vs safe-to-remove by running a version solve with each override removed.

Manual: Bump version in pubspec.yaml, then git tag v0.1.0 and git push origin v0.1.0. GitHub Actions publishes to pub.dev.

• Package on pub.dev