q Professional

Quick start

1. Open the q Professional activity bar panel and add a process (Add Process).
2. Run Connect to Process from the Command Palette (ctrl+shift+p).
3. Open a .q or .k file and press ctrl+r to query the current selection.

Use Switch Query Mode to change between Console, Grid, and Visualization output.

Features

Editor

• Syntax highlighting for q and k
• q notebook (*.qnb) with Console, Grid, and Visualization cell output
• Process tree grouped by tags
• Process Explorer for live server variables
• Query History

Query modes

• Console — text output in an output channel (default)
• Grid — filter and sort tables in a webview (ag-grid-community & plotly); nanosecond timestamp precision
• Visualization — pivot and virtualize tables (perspective); millisecond timestamp precision

Language server

Powered by tree-sitter. Works offline on local source files.

• Linter and formatter
• Rename symbol (F2)
• Go to definition (F12)
• Go to references (shift+F12)
• Workspace symbol (ctrl+T)
• Document highlight and document symbol (ctrl+shift+O)
• Completion (local identifiers, kdb+ process symbols, column names)
• Completion resolve, signature help, semantic highlights, call hierarchy

See the changelog.

For Neovim setup using the standalone language server, see neovim.md.

Configuration

• User settings: ctrl+,, then filter by q-pro.
• Workspace settings: Command Palette → Preferences: Open Workspace Settings, then filter by q-pro.

configuration	type	default value	description
q-lang-server.sourceFiles.includeGlob	array	["**/src/**/*.q","**/src/**/*.k"]	globs for source files to analyze
q-lang-server.sourceFiles.ignoreGlob	array	["**/build/**","**/node_modules/**"]	globs to exclude from analysis
q-lang-server.trace.server	string	off	LSP trace level: off, messages, or verbose
q-processes.cfg.queryMode	string	Console	query mode: Console, Grid, or Visualization
q-processes.cfg.queryGridDecimals	number	3	decimal places in Grid mode
q-discovery-server.cfg.refreshInterval	number	30	discovery server refresh interval (minutes)
q-terminal.cfg.qBinary	string	q	q executable name or full path
q-terminal.cfg.envPath	string	''	environment file (relative or absolute path)
q-process-explorer.cfg.prevQueryLimit	number	5	preview query limit in Process Explorer
q-process-explorer.cfg.autoRefresh	boolean	false	auto-refresh Process Explorer
q-process-explorer.cfg.excludedNamespaces	array	["q","Q","h","j","o","s"]	namespaces excluded from Process Explorer
q-output.cfg.autoClear	boolean	false	clear output before each query
q-output.cfg.ignoreNullReturn	boolean	false	suppress null returns in non-Console modes
q-output.cfg.includeQuery	boolean	false	include the query text in output
q-output.cfg.consoleSize	string	'50 160'	console size for table output
q-kuki.kukiRoot	string	''	path to kuki root for additional built-in function analysis (defaults to ~/kuki or $KUKI_PATH)

Process lists can be imported and exported via kest.json (schema). kuki configuration uses kuki.json (schema).

Language server

The offline language server analyzes q and k files matched by q-lang-server.sourceFiles.includeGlob. To improve parsing accuracy, add ; to mark the end of a statement when needed.

Linter and formatter directives

• // q-lang-server-ignore-linter — ignore linter for the following block
• // q-lang-server-ignore-formatter — ignore formatter for the following block

q Notebook

Files with the .qnb extension use the notebook feature. Output format follows the active query mode:

Query mode	Notebook output
Console	notebook console
Grid	notebook HTML
Visualization	notebook HTML

Per-cell directives can override the global query mode: // @console, // @grid, // @chart <type>.

Charts

In Grid or Visualization mode, add a chart directive as the first comment in a cell and execute:

// @chart lines
([] date: .z.D + til 10; price: 100?1.0)

Supported chart types: lines, bar, scatter, histogram, heatmap.

Optional directives (one per line, after the chart type):

Directive	Example	Description
@height	// @height 400	chart height in pixels (default 600)
@width	// @width 900	chart width in pixels (default 800)
@title	// @title my_chart	chart title
@barmode	// @barmode stack	bar/histogram mode: group, stack, etc.

Limitations:

• the first non-numeric column is used as the label
• up to 9 series in line, bar, and histogram charts
• up to 4 series pairs in scatter charts

See examples/chart.qnb for full examples.

Panels

Open the q Professional activity bar to access these views.

Processes

Lists configured processes; click to switch the active connection. Processes are grouped into a tree by tags.

Tag colors:

• green — dev, development
• blue — uat
• red — prd, prod

Use Import Processes / Export Processes to share process lists via kest.json.

Discovery Server

Configure a REST API endpoint that returns a list of {host: string, port: number, label: string}. Discovered processes appear in the Processes panel but are not saved to disk.

Process Explorer

Lists variables defined on the active kdb+ process. Use Preview to run a short query against a variable (limited by prevQueryLimit).

Query History

Records executed queries. Use Rerun Query History to repeat a past query.

Query modes

Run Switch Query Mode from the Command Palette to cycle modes, or set q-processes.cfg.queryMode in settings.

Visualization

Powered by perspective. Tables are shown in a webview; other result types still appear in the output channel. Table queries are limited to 10,000 rows by default. Click the flame icon in the Processes panel, or run Toggle Unlimited Query, to remove the limit. Note that Visualization supports millisecond timestamp precision only.

Grid

Powered by ag-grid-community and plotly. Tables are shown in a webview; other result types still appear in the output channel. Table queries are limited to 10,000 rows by default — use the flame icon or Toggle Unlimited Query to remove the limit. Grid supports nanosecond timestamp precision.

Console (default)

Writes results to an output channel. Set Console Size for Output (q-output.cfg.consoleSize) to control table formatting. For non-table output, use system "c rows columns" in q.

Commands

All commands are under the q-pro category in the Command Palette (ctrl+shift+p).

Command	Description
Connect to Process	connect to the selected process
Disconnect to Process	disconnect from the active process
Switch Query Mode	cycle Console → Grid → Visualization
Toggle Unlimited Query	remove the 10,000-row table limit
Abort Current Query	stop the running query
Add / Edit / Delete Process	manage process entries
Import / Export Processes	load or save kest.json
Tag Process	assign tags to a process
Refresh Processes	reload the process list
Add / Edit / Delete Discovery Server	manage discovery endpoints
Reload Discovery Server	refresh discovered processes
Refresh Process Explorer	reload variables from the active process
Toggle Auto Refresh	enable periodic Process Explorer refresh
Preview	run a preview query on a Process Explorer item
Insert Active Connection Label	insert the active connection label at the cursor
Export Notebook	export the current q notebook
Run Code from Terminal	execute code from an integrated terminal
Settings	open q-pro settings
Rerun Query History	repeat a query from history

Shortcuts

Default keybindings (when editing q files):

Shortcut	Action
ctrl+q	query current line
ctrl+r	query selection
ctrl+e	query block
ctrl+shift+q	send current line to terminal
ctrl+shift+r	send selection to terminal
ctrl+shift+e	send block to terminal

To customize shortcuts:

1. ctrl+shift+p → Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts
2. Search for q-pro

Tips

Enable auto-scrolling for the output channel

1. ctrl+, → disable Output › Smart Scroll.
2. Click the lock icon at the top-right of the output channel to enable auto-scrolling.

Disable word wrap in q Console output

Command Palette → Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON), then add:

"[q-console]": {
    "editor.wordWrap": "off"
}

Highlight ATTENTION and TODO comments

Command Palette → Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON), then add:

"editor.tokenColorCustomizations": {
    "textMateRules": [
        {
            "scope": "comment.line.attention",
            "settings": {
                "fontStyle": "italic",
                "foreground": "#B71C1C"
            }
        },
        {
            "scope": "comment.line.todo",
            "settings": {
                "fontStyle": "italic",
                "foreground": "#2E7D32"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Special connection comment

Evaluating a comment line like /<=> quant,prod,local-1800 connects to the process labeled quant,prod,local-1800. Use Insert Active Connection Label to insert the label of the currently active connection.