◆ Microsoft SQL Server

Identify top resource-consuming queries using Query Store

This is real work, not a feature someone invented — it comes from real job ads and real questions people asked. Below are four ready AI prompts: get it done, make it easy for the next person to say yes to, work out the right move when you are stuck, and stop it coming back.

4prompts

The same task, four prompts

today's deadline · the next reviewer · the stuck moment · the pattern
AExecute — do the immediate taskFind the top 20 queries by total CPU time in the last 24 hours from the Query Store for the…+
Find the top 20 queries by total CPU time in the last 24 hours from the Query Store for the 'SalesDB' database and send the results to Mark by Friday.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
BImprove — make it easier to acceptBefore I send this list of top resource-consuming queries to the development team, make it easy…+
Before I send this list of top resource-consuming queries to the development team, make it easy for them to prioritize. Group similar queries, highlight the ones with recent significant performance degradation, and flag any that are critical to the end-of-quarter reporting.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
CDecide — diagnose the stuck momentThe new reporting database instance is grinding to a halt, and I'm getting calls from finance…+
The new reporting server is grinding to a halt, and I'm getting calls from finance.
The new reporting database instance is grinding to a halt, and I'm getting calls from finance about the daily sales report taking hours. I just checked the Query Store and see a few new queries consuming massive CPU, but I don't know if they're legitimate new reports or just poorly written ones from the recent deployment. I'm afraid to kill them and break something critical. What's the most likely diagnosis, and what's my best next move to get finance their numbers without crashing the database instance?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
DBecome — change the patternI keep getting blindsided by performance issues after new deployments, with users calling…+
I keep getting blindsided by performance issues after new deployments.
I keep getting blindsided by performance issues after new deployments, with users calling before I even know there's a problem. I spend too much time reactively digging through Query Store data. What habit should I change to proactively identify problematic queries before they impact users after a deployment?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?

Questions people actually ask

honest answers, no sign-up

Every task here was seen in the real world. Someone doing the job named it, a real job ad asked for it, or a lot of people asked about it online.

If nothing real showed a task, it is not on the page. That is the whole rule.

They are the same job approached four ways, because what you need depends on where you are.

Get it done today. Make it easy for the next person to say yes to. Work out the right move when you are stuck. Learn the pattern so the job stops coming back.

For most of these jobs it can carry the heavy thinking - draft it, sort it, check it, rehearse it with you.

It cannot sit in your chair, take the blame when a number is wrong, or notice what nobody wrote down. Let it do the first 80%. Keep the last 20% that is truly yours.

No. Copy any prompt and paste it into the AI you already use. No account, no score, no wall in the way.

Any of them. The prompts describe the work rather than naming a product, so they are not tied to one assistant.

That is also why they keep working when you switch.

Change it freely. Every prompt is a starting line, not a rule.

Put in your real numbers, your real names and your real deadline. The more you make it yours, the better the answer comes back.

The tasks come from real job ads, published job data and the questions people ask in public forums.

The steps come from Microsoft SQL Server's own documentation, with practitioner sources for the traps the manual does not mention.

Push once. Ask it to sharpen the weakest part and to say what it assumed.

Most wrong answers come from a missing detail rather than a bad prompt - tell it the thing it could not know.