erikdarlingdata/PerformanceMonitor

Download PerformanceMonitorLite-win-Setup.exe from GitHub Releases (requires .NET 10 Desktop Runtime)
Darling edition: download PerformanceMonitorDarling-<version>.zip, copy darling.sample.json to darling.json, run the service

Usage

• •Lite: launch app, click + Add Server, enter connection details, test, save, double-click to connect
• •Enable the MCP server in Settings (checkbox + port, default 5151), then register with Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user sql-monitor http://localhost:5151/`
• •Ask Claude Code/Cursor questions like "What are the top wait types on my server?" or "Are there any blocking or deadlock issues?"
• •Grant the login VIEW SERVER STATE (plus optional VIEW ANY DEFINITION for AGs and SQLAgentReaderRole for agent job monitoring)

Key features

• ✓38 specialized collectors (wait stats, deadlocks, blocking chains, memory grants, file I/O, tempdb, perfmon, FinOps/capacity, etc.) on configurable schedules
• ✓Real-time alerts via system tray, styled HTML email with XML attachments, and webhooks; alert muting rules and resolved notifications
• ✓Graphical ShowPlan viewer with 30-rule PlanAnalyzer and standalone .sqlplan mode; Recommendations engine (advise-and-act)
• ✓Built-in MCP server with 74 read-only tools (Lite) covering waits, queries, blocking, deadlocks, CPU, memory, I/O, jobs, plan analysis, config, and diagnostics
• ✓Local DuckDB + Parquet storage (~50-200 MB per server per week), no telemetry/no cloud dependency, community tools (sp_WhoIsActive, etc.) installed automatically

Best for

DBAs who want free, self-hosted, always-local SQL Server (2016-2025, Azure SQL DB/MI, AWS RDS) monitoring with AI-assisted analysis via MCP.

Caveats

• ⚠Full "Dashboard" edition is deprecated; as of v3.3.0 it is no longer included in release assets
• ⚠Lite and Darling run on Windows (Lite is a WPF desktop app; Darling is a Windows service with bundled PostgreSQL); no Linux/macOS edition mentioned
• ⚠MCP server binds to localhost only and does not accept remote connections; MCP port must be 1024-65535
• ⚠Requires VIEW SERVER STATE on monitored servers; Azure SQL DB needs a contained database user with VIEW DATABASE STATE
• ⚠sp_configure is unavailable on AWS RDS (use Parameter Groups); blocked-process threshold is fixed at 20s on Azure SQL DB
• ⚠Free software with optional commercial support tiers ($500/year Supported, $2,500/year Priority); unlimited instances