Getting started

Before you begin

You’ll need a free QueryBolt account. You can bring a query of your own or, on your first visit to the upload wizard, use the guided example, which includes safe SQL, matching table definitions, and row counts. QueryBolt never connects to your database. Benchmarked runs execute in a temporary, isolated database that is dropped afterwards; preview-only workloads are analyzed without creating that sandbox.

Create an account

Sign up on the registration page with your work email, or continue with Google or GitHub to skip the password and email-verification steps. The Free plan includes MySQL 8 optimization and a monthly optimization quota, so you can try the full workflow before paying anything.

Submit your first query

From the upload wizard, pick your target engine (MySQL 8 or SQL Server). On your first visit, click Load example for an editable starter query, schema, and row counts. You can also paste your own statement or upload a .sql file:

SELECT u.id, u.email
FROM users u
WHERE u.created_at >= '2024-01-01';

Table definitions and row counts are optional but strongly recommended - they let the benchmark run at a realistic scale instead of against a tiny inferred dataset.

Read your first report

Every run returns a side-by-side SQL diff, measured benchmark metrics, an execution plan view, and index recommendations. If the optimized query doesn’t clear the minimum improvement threshold, the run doesn’t consume an optimization from your quota.

Export the report

On Core and Max, Export PDF Report opens a three-step wizard. Cover takes the author details plus an optional report title, organisation, and summary note printed under the executive summary. Sections chooses what the report contains and whether to append the execution-plan diagrams. Output sets the page footer (on every page, or a single closing block on the last page), page numbers, and an optional confidentiality stamp. Your choices are saved to your account and pre-filled the next time you export; a report title or summary note carried over from your last export is marked Last export with a one-click Clear, so a stale note never ships unnoticed.

Leave long jobs running

You can close the tab while a long optimization runs. QueryBolt emails you when the job completes or reaches a final failure after its automatic retries, with a link back to the result or job status. Turn these messages on or off independently under Account Settings → Data & Privacy → Email Preferences.