Unlike ephemeral DMVs cleared on server restarts, Query Store persists runtime metrics, query texts, and execution plans directly inside the user database.
When a schema change, parameter sniffing, or statistics update produces a regressed query plan, SREs can inspect regressions visually and force the known good plan instantly via sp_query_store_force_plan or enable Automatic Tuning.
SELECT qsq.query_id, qsp.plan_id, qst.query_sql_text, qrs.count_executions, qrs.avg_duration / 1000.0 AS avg_duration_ms, qrs.avg_cpu_time / 1000.0 AS avg_cpu_ms FROM sys.query_store_query qsq JOIN sys.query_store_query_text qst ON qsq.query_text_id = qst.query_text_id JOIN sys.query_store_plan qsp ON qsq.query_id = qsp.query_id JOIN sys.query_store_runtime_stats qrs ON qsp.plan_id = qrs.plan_id ORDER BY qrs.avg_duration DESC;
