ActiveRecord offers an explain method similar to using EXPLAIN SQL statements on the database.

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However, this approach will explain all queries for the given scope which may include joins or includes.

Output will resemble your database's EXPLAIN style. For example, it looks like this on MySQL:

User.where(id: 1).includes(:articles).explain

EXPLAIN for: SELECT `users`.* FROM `users`  WHERE `users`.`id` = 1
+----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+
| id | select_type | table | type  | possible_keys |
+----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+
|  1 | SIMPLE      | users | const | PRIMARY       |
+----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+
+---------+---------+-------+------+-------+
| key     | key_len | ref   | rows | Extra |
+---------+---------+-------+------+-------+
| PRIMARY | 4       | const |    1 |       |
+---------+---------+-------+------+-------+
 
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
 
EXPLAIN for: SELECT `articles`.* FROM `articles`  WHERE `articles`.`user_id` IN (1)
+----+-------------+----------+------+---------------+
| id | select_type | table    | type | possible_keys |
+----+-------------+----------+------+---------------+
|  1 | SIMPLE      | articles | ALL  | NULL          |
+----+-------------+----------+------+---------------+
+------+---------+------+------+-------------+
| key  | key_len | ref  | rows | Extra       |
+------+---------+------+------+-------------+
| NULL | NULL    | NULL |    1 | Using where |
+------+---------+------+------+-------------+
 
1 row in set (0.00 sec)