Using Parameters in Data Explorer Queries

zogstrip · December 13, 2025, 10:33am

PSA: this was added recently by

github.com/discourse/discourse

FEATURE: Add current_user_id parameter type to Data Explorer

main ← add-current-user-id-parameter-to-data-explorer

merged 03:40PM - 12 Dec 25 UTC

ZogStriP

+178 -44

Introduces a new `current_user_id` parameter type that automatically injects the… ID of the user running the query. This enables secure "personal data" queries in group reports where non-admin users can run queries filtered to their own data. Why: - Members requested queries like "show my recent posts" for group reports, but there was no secure way to reference the current user - Passing user_id as a regular parameter would allow users to spoof other users' IDs How it works: - Parameter is injected server-side, ignoring any user-provided value - Frontend hides input fields for "internal" parameter types - Supports nullable option for queries that may run without auth Example usage: ```sql -- [params] -- current_user_id :me SELECT * FROM posts WHERE user_id = :me ``` Here are a few screenshots of how it looks like: The query from the admin PoV <img width="1471" height="1092" alt="CleanShot 2025-12-12 at 11 20 10" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/bc6ce759-ebcb-4550-9035-dbaf7ae034da" /> How it looks like from a member of the report's allowed group <img width="1471" height="1092" alt="CleanShot 2025-12-12 at 11 19 48" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/10eb1ddb-c93b-4608-988d-e4a8ca13d8ba" />

Topic		Replies	Views
`DataExplorer::ValidationError: Missing parameter` when running Data Explorer queries with [params] via API Data & reporting rest-api , sql-query	9	1121	May 10, 2022
Param dropdown for group_id in data explorer query Feature data-explorer , completed	17	1142	June 5, 2025
Discourse Data Explorer SQL Query Support data-explorer	4	74	April 14, 2025
How to add query parameters to Data Explorer? Dev	7	1036	November 25, 2020
Is it possible to give an alias to a query parameter? Support data-explorer	9	856	August 26, 2023

Using Parameters in Data Explorer Queries

Related topics