SlabCity: Whole-Query Optimization using Program Synthesis

Summary: SlabCity is the first rule-free, synthesis-based query rewriter, searching SQL space via query dataflows for whole-query optimization. Across four workloads and 1,000+ real queries, it rewrites more queries and produces faster plans than rule-based systems. (summarized by gpt-5.6-luna on Jul 24 2026)

Paper ID: h7ca9ed9b08b1598f
Venue: VLDB
Year: 2023
Pagerank: 5.4238328e-05
Overall Rank: 7,931 | 46.68%
DOI: 10.14778/3611479.3611515

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

1. Rui Dong (University of Michigan)
2. Jie Liu (University of Michigan)
3. Yuxuan Zhu (University of Michigan)
4. Cong Yan (Microsoft)
5. Barzan Mozafari (University of Michigan)
6. Xinyu Wang (University of Michigan)

BibTeX Citation

@article{dong_vldb23,
        title = {{SlabCity: Whole-Query Optimization using Program Synthesis}},
        author = {Dong, Rui and Liu, Jie and Zhu, Yuxuan and Yan, Cong and Mozafari, Barzan and Wang, Xinyu},
        journal = {PVLDB},
        series = {{VLDB} '23},
        volume = {16},
        number = {11},
        pages = {3151--3164},
        doi = {10.14778/3611479.3611515},
        url = {https://doi.org/10.14778/3611479.3611515},
        year = {2023}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 5 of 5 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
3,336	GenRewrite: Query Rewriting via Large Language Models	2026	SIGMOD	7.4137763e-05
4,385	R-Bot: An LLM-based Query Rewrite System	2025	VLDB	6.6235293e-05
8,332	Learned Offline Query Planning via Bayesian Optimization	2025	SIGMOD	5.3528188e-05
10,832	ReSequel: Robust LLM-assisted Query Rewriting and Optimization using Templatization and Sampling	2026	VLDB	4.9793485e-05
11,375	GRewriter: Practical Query Rewriting with Automatic Rule Set Expansion in GaussDB	2025	VLDB	4.9793485e-05

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 25 of 25 cited papers.

Citations counted here include only citations to other VLDB/SIGMOD/CIDR/PODS papers in this database.

Rank	Cited Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
17	Provenance Semirings	2007	PODS	0.00059752575
109	Extensible/Rule Based Query Rewrite Optimization in Starburst	1992	SIGMOD	0.0003276959
118	The EXODUS Optimizer Generator	1987	SIGMOD	0.00031392616
145	Neo: A Learned Query Optimizer	2019	VLDB	0.0002908188
196	Grammar-like Functional Rules for Representing Query Optimization Alternatives	1988	SIGMOD	0.00025626873
272	An Overview of Query Optimization in Relational Systems	1998	PODS	0.00022509573
379	Apache Calcite: A Foundational Framework for Optimized Query Processing Over Heterogeneous Data Sources	2018	SIGMOD	0.00019514689
391	Why Not?	2009	SIGMOD	0.00019238698
590	On Propagation of Deletions and Annotations Through Views	2002	PODS	0.00015890019
790	Cosette: An Automated Prover for SQL	2017	CIDR	0.00013976438
1,015	Improved Unnesting Algorithms for Join Aggregate SQL Queries	1992	VLDB	0.00012500439
1,119	Query Optimization by Predicate Move-Around	1994	VLDB	0.00011950395
1,199	Balsa: Learning a Query Optimizer Without Expert Demonstrations	2022	SIGMOD	0.00011563985
1,438	Magic is Relevant	1990	SIGMOD	0.00010648031
1,680	Axiomatic Foundations and Algorithms for Deciding Semantic Equivalences of SQL Queries	2018	VLDB	9.9031411e-05
1,893	WeTune: Automatic Discovery and Verification of Query Rewrite Rules	2022	SIGMOD	9.4126198e-05
2,395	A Learned Query Rewrite System using Monte Carlo Tree Search	2022	VLDB	8.5281914e-05
2,618	The MemSQL Query Optimizer: A modern optimizer for real-time analytics in a distributed database	2016	VLDB	8.2217101e-05
3,297	Automated Verification of Query Equivalence Using Satisfiability Modulo Theories	2019	VLDB	7.4452842e-05
4,149	SQLCheck: Automated Detection and Diagnosis of SQL Anti-Patterns	2020	SIGMOD	6.7796171e-05
4,847	Explaining Wrong Queries Using Small Examples	2019	SIGMOD	6.3823876e-05
6,147	Sia: Optimizing Queries using Learned Predicates	2021	SIGMOD	5.8710365e-05
6,290	Incorporating Super-Operators in Big-Data Query Optimizers	2020	VLDB	5.8223076e-05
7,139	Optimizing Recursive Queries with Program Synthesis	2022	SIGMOD	5.6006128e-05
10,156	Generating Application-Specific Data Layouts for In-memory Databases	2019	VLDB	5.0707546e-05

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1	2,395	A Learned Query Rewrite System using Monte Carlo Tree Search	2022	VLDB
2	6,147	Sia: Optimizing Queries using Learned Predicates	2021	SIGMOD
3	7,261	Rule-Based Translation of Relational Queries into Iterative Programs	1986	SIGMOD
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8	3,336	GenRewrite: Query Rewriting via Large Language Models	2026	SIGMOD
9	10,359	Leveraging Query Optimizers to Verify the Soundness of LLM-based Query Rewrites for Real-World Workloads, and More!	2026	CIDR
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