diff --git a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/input_highlight_rules.js b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/input_highlight_rules.js
index 74384d2621ad5..17c1e3876f076 100644
--- a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/input_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/input_highlight_rules.js
@@ -36,12 +36,17 @@ export function mergeTokens(/* ... */) {
 
 const oop = ace.acequire('ace/lib/oop');
 const { TextHighlightRules } = ace.acequire('ace/mode/text_highlight_rules');
-export function InputHighlightRules() {
 
+export function InputHighlightRules() {
   // regexp must not have capturing parentheses. Use (?:) instead.
   // regexps are ordered -> the first match is used
   /*jshint -W015 */
   this.$rules = {
+    'start-sql': [
+      { token: 'whitespace', regex: '\\s+' },
+      { token: 'paren.lparen', regex: '{', next: 'json-sql', push: true },
+      { regex: '', next: 'start' }
+    ],
     'start': mergeTokens([
       { 'token': 'warning', 'regex': '#!.*$' },
       { token: 'comment', regex: /^#.*$/ },
@@ -66,6 +71,7 @@ export function InputHighlightRules() {
       addEOL(['whitespace'], /(\s+)/, 'start', 'url')
     ),
     'url': mergeTokens(
+      addEOL(['url.part'], /(_sql)/, 'start-sql', 'url-sql'),
       addEOL(['url.part'], /([^?\/,\s]+)/, 'start'),
       addEOL(['url.comma'], /(,)/, 'start'),
       addEOL(['url.slash'], /(\/)/, 'start'),
@@ -75,7 +81,17 @@ export function InputHighlightRules() {
       addEOL(['url.param', 'url.equal', 'url.value'], /([^&=]+)(=)([^&]*)/, 'start'),
       addEOL(['url.param'], /([^&=]+)/, 'start'),
       addEOL(['url.amp'], /(&)/, 'start')
-    )
+    ),
+    'url-sql': mergeTokens(
+      addEOL(['url.comma'], /(,)/, 'start-sql'),
+      addEOL(['url.slash'], /(\/)/, 'start-sql'),
+      addEOL(['url.questionmark'], /(\?)/, 'start-sql', 'urlParams-sql')
+    ),
+    'urlParams-sql': mergeTokens(
+      addEOL(['url.param', 'url.equal', 'url.value'], /([^&=]+)(=)([^&]*)/, 'start-sql'),
+      addEOL(['url.param'], /([^&=]+)/, 'start-sql'),
+      addEOL(['url.amp'], /(&)/, 'start-sql')
+    ),
   };
 
   addToRules(this);
diff --git a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/x_json_highlight_rules.js b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/x_json_highlight_rules.js
index 674a682551f47..8e39ea0acba10 100644
--- a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/x_json_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/mode/x_json_highlight_rules.js
@@ -18,15 +18,15 @@
  */
 
 import ace from 'brace';
+const _ = require('lodash');
 
 const { SqlHighlightRules } = ace.acequire('ace/mode/sql_highlight_rules');
-const _ = require('lodash');
-const ScriptHighlightRules = require('./script_highlight_rules').ScriptHighlightRules;
+const { ScriptHighlightRules } = require('./script_highlight_rules');
 
 const jsonRules = function (root) {
   root = root ? root : 'json';
   const rules = {};
-  rules[root] = [
+  const xJsonRules = [
     {
       token: ['variable', 'whitespace', 'ace.punctuation.colon', 'whitespace', 'punctuation.start_triple_quote'],
       regex: '("(?:[^"]*_)?script"|"inline"|"source")(\\s*?)(:)(\\s*?)(""")',
@@ -34,13 +34,6 @@ const jsonRules = function (root) {
       merge: false,
       push: true
     },
-    {
-      token: 'punctuation.start_triple_quote',
-      regex: '"""sql',
-      next: 'sql-start',
-      merge: false,
-      push: true
-    },
     {
       token: 'variable', // single line
       regex: '["](?:(?:\\\\.)|(?:[^"\\\\]))*?["]\\s*(?=:)'
@@ -116,6 +109,16 @@ const jsonRules = function (root) {
       regex: '.+?'
     }
   ];
+
+  rules[root] = xJsonRules;
+  rules[root + '-sql'] = [{
+    token: ['variable', 'whitespace', 'ace.punctuation.colon', 'whitespace', 'punctuation.start_triple_quote'],
+    regex: '("query")(\\s*?)(:)(\\s*?)(""")',
+    next: 'sql-start',
+    merge: false,
+    push: true
+  }].concat(xJsonRules);
+
   rules.string_literal = [
     {
       token: 'punctuation.end_triple_quote',
diff --git a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/row_parser.js b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/row_parser.js
index c1bba107de784..f1e3268454d52 100644
--- a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/row_parser.js
+++ b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/sense_editor/row_parser.js
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ function RowParser(editor) {
       return MODE.BETWEEN_REQUESTS;
     } // shouldn't really happen
 
-    if (mode !== 'start') {
+    if (mode !== 'start' && mode !== 'start-sql') {
       return MODE.IN_REQUEST;
     }
     let line = (session.getLine(row) || '').trim();
diff --git a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/utils.js b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/utils.js
index ee1b91595e7ec..5b6bd1646c300 100644
--- a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/src/utils.js
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ utils.reformatData = function (data, indent) {
 };
 
 utils.collapseLiteralStrings = function (data) {
-  const splitData = data.replace(/"""sql/, `"""`).split(`"""`);
+  const splitData = data.split(`"""`);
   for (let idx = 1; idx < splitData.length - 1; idx += 2) {
     splitData[idx] = JSON.stringify(splitData[idx]);
   }
diff --git a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/tests/src/setup_mocks.js b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/tests/src/setup_mocks.js
index 203d8a20b1055..f988eae946d91 100644
--- a/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/tests/src/setup_mocks.js
+++ b/src/legacy/core_plugins/console/public/quarantined/tests/src/setup_mocks.js
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ import 'brace';
 import 'brace/ext/language_tools';
 import 'brace/ext/searchbox';
 import 'brace/mode/json';
+import 'brace/mode/sql';
 import 'brace/mode/text';
 
 jest.mock('../../../../np_ready/public/application', () => ({ legacyBackDoorToSettings: () => {}, }));
diff --git a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/console_extensions/spec/overrides/sql.query.json b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/console_extensions/spec/overrides/sql.query.json
index 0baebcf9c7a80..843fba30bb489 100644
--- a/x-pack/legacy/plugins/console_extensions/spec/overrides/sql.query.json
+++ b/x-pack/legacy/plugins/console_extensions/spec/overrides/sql.query.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
       "query": {
         "__template": {
           "__raw": true,
-          "value": "\"\"\"sql\nSELECT * FROM \"TABLE\"\n\"\"\""
+          "value": "\"\"\"\nSELECT * FROM \"TABLE\"\n\"\"\""
         }
       }
     },
@@ -19,6 +19,6 @@
         "smile"
       ]
     },
-    "template": "_sql?format=json\n{\n\"query\":\n    \"\"\"sql\n    SELECT * FROM \"TABLE\"\n    \"\"\"\n}\n"
+    "template": "_sql?format=json\n{\n  \"query\": \"\"\"\n  SELECT * FROM \"${1:TABLE}\"\n  \"\"\"\n}\n"
   }
 }