News
VS Code SQL Extension Previews Microsoft Fabric Connectivity
Microsoft updated its free MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code with new Fabric connectivity and provisioning features in public preview, alongside GitHub Copilot slash commands and multiple reliability fixes.
The tool's Marketplace listing now highlights general availability support to connect to a SQL database in Fabric, in addition to Azure SQL and SQL Server.
New Fabric Connectivity Inside VS Code
The v1.36 release introduces three public preview capabilities centered on Microsoft Fabric: Fabric Connectivity (Browse), SQL Database in Fabric provisioning, and GitHub Copilot slash commands. Microsoft describes Fabric Connectivity as enabling developers to "Browse and connect to Fabric workspaces directly from the Connection dialog using Microsoft Entra ID, with tree-view navigation and search."
[Click on image for larger view.] Browse Fabric (source: Microsoft).
It also adds "Open in MSSQL" support from the Fabric extension or portal. Provisioning lets developers "create new SQL databases in Fabric directly from the Deployments page, with instant connection in VS Code," with capacity awareness and immediate addition to connections for querying. The slash commands allow users to "use structured slash commands in GitHub Copilot Agent Mode to connect, explore schemas, and run queries directly from chat."
Notably, while browsing Fabric workspaces and in-editor provisioning are in public preview, the Marketplace page lists general availability support to connect to SQL database in Fabric, Azure SQL, and SQL Server via the extension's standard connection experience.
The MSSQL Extension
The MSSQL extension, with more than 8 million installs, brings a modern SQL development workflow to VS Code, including schema management, query execution with a results grid, IntelliSense, snippets, Object Explorer, and execution plan visualization.
[Click on image for larger view.] MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code (source: Microsoft).
It also includes visual design tools such as Table Designer and Schema Designer, plus local SQL Server containers for quick dev/test. GitHub Copilot integration offers AI assistance for writing and explaining SQL, and Agent Mode exposes confirmable actions and slash commands.
Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft Fabric is the company's unified, software-as-a-service (SaaS) data and analytics platform that spans data movement, data engineering, data science, real-time analytics, and business intelligence, built on a single foundation called OneLake. You can learn more at its Learn page, Microsoft Fabric documentation.
Fabric's OneLake is a single, logical data lake that comes with every tenant and is designed to provide one place for all analytics data. You can learn more at its Learn page: OneLake in Microsoft Fabric.
Microsoft recently emphasized that leaders need platforms delivering "shared meaning, live context and interactivity" so systems understand the business as it is, not as a static report. In announcing new Fabric capabilities, Microsoft said, "We're in a hinge moment for AI. The experiments are over and the real work has begun." The company introduced Graph in Fabric for modeling and analyzing relationships across enterprise data and Maps in Fabric for geospatial analytics, alongside new OneLake shortcuts, mirroring sources, and governance features. You can learn more in a Sept. 16 company post.
Microsoft's Fabric overview further explains the platform's end-to-end scope and experiences across analytics workloads, while the product documentation details how Fabric organizes data, models, and governance in OneLake and exposes items through the OneLake catalog. Learn pages: What is Microsoft Fabric? and OneLake catalog.
How Fabric Connectivity Shows Up in MSSQL
In the extension's connection dialog, Fabric appears as a dedicated connection type alongside standard options. Developers authenticate with Entra ID once, browse Fabric workspaces in a tree view with on-demand loading, and use search to find resources. Cross-extension integration enables "Open in MSSQL" from the Fabric extension or portal. From the Deployments page in MSSQL, developers can provision a new Fabric SQL database, which is then added to connections automatically for immediate querying.
Separately, the Marketplace listing confirms general availability support to connect to SQL database in Fabric through the extension's standard connection workflow, in addition to Azure SQL and SQL Server.
Other Improvements in v1.36
- GitHub Copilot Slash Commands (Public Preview) -- structured chat commands such as /connect, /listDatabases, and /runQuery for predictable connection management, schema exploration, and query execution.
- Connection reliability -- fixes for connection establishment problems.
- Fabric connectivity stability -- resolved query failures on Fabric tables.
- Authentication persistence -- bug fix for saved passwords after failed connections.
- Performance and memory -- reductions in excessive memory usage and unresponsive queries.
About the Author
David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.