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lancedb/docs/web/sql/dql/explain.mdx
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Brendan Clement 06aa526ae1 docs: correct data workflows, SQL and operations (#4534)
This PR is part of the documentation revamp. Once the full set of PRs is
merged, we’ll publish the combined site to staging for review before
updating docs.lancedb.com.

The curation, SQL and operations pages contain outdated claims and
examples that do not reliably work as written.

This corrects those pages against the reviewed SDK and local server
evidence, including prepared statements, background jobs, cleanup and
monitoring. Integration guides are grouped with their examples in #4533.

Function and Secret-object documentation stays unpublished until its
release. The two Function pages are listed in `.mintignore` and left out
of the navigation, and the sections about them on other pages are MDX
comments.

Stacked on #4533. Each MDX file has one PR owner. Rebase onto main after
#4533 is squash-merged.

Local assembly, Mint validation and link checks pass, and the assembled
site shows no Function or Secret-object content. A local release
rehearsal that uncomments the drafts and restores the navigation also
passes. Hold publication until this PR and lancedb/sophon#8688 are on
`main`.
2026-10-15 14:57:20 -07:00

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---
title: "Explain"
sidebarTitle: "Explain"
description: "EXPLAIN, EXPLAIN ANALYZE and EXPLAIN VERBOSE — reading and measuring a plan from SQL."
icon: map
keywords: ["explain", "explain analyze", "explain verbose", "query plan"]
---
<Badge color="red">Enterprise</Badge> [SQL runs in LanceDB Enterprise.](/sql)
```sql
EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM documents WHERE identifier < 1000
EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM documents WHERE identifier < 1000
```
| Statement | What it returns |
| --- | --- |
| `EXPLAIN <query>` | Logical and physical plan, without executing the query. |
| `EXPLAIN ANALYZE <query>` | Executes the query and annotates each operator with runtime metrics (rows, timing). |
| `EXPLAIN VERBOSE <query>` | Adds intermediate optimizer plans on top of `EXPLAIN`. |
The result is a small relation with `plan_type` and `plan` columns, read
through the same client you use for regular queries -- see
[Connecting](/sql#connecting).
SQL plans and the SDK's
[`explain_plan` and `analyze_plan`](/search/explain) output share scan and index
operators. Use the same approach to inspect index coverage and filter pushdown;
SQL can also add joins, aggregates and other operators:
<CardGroup cols={2}>
<Card title="What it shows" icon="map" href="/search/explain#inspect-a-query-plan">
Reading a plan: operators, pushdown, index usage.
</Card>
<Card title="What it measures" icon="gauge" href="/search/explain#analyze-a-query-plan">
Reading the metrics, and a worked before/after.
</Card>
</CardGroup>
## What to look for {#what-to-look-for}
| Sign | Means |
| --- | --- |
| `ScalarIndexQuery` | the predicate used a scalar index |
| `LanceScan` with high `bytes_read` | inspect the selected columns, filter pushdown and index use |
| `FilterExec` above a search | the filter ran after search rather than pushing into it |
| `ANNSubIndex` / `ANNIvfPartition` | the vector index was used |
A `LanceScan` feeding a join is the common one worth acting on -- see
[Joins](/sql/dql/join#performance).
For a table's columns and types without a plan, see
[`DESCRIBE`](/sql/ddl/table#describe).