Editing and Mutations

Every change in dadbod-grip goes through a staging layer before it touches the database. Stage one change or fifty, preview the full SQL, then apply in a single transaction with a single keystroke.

Row color legend

Staged changes are color-coded so you can see what will happen before a commits anything:

Nothing has touched the database yet. Press u to unstage individual edits or U to reset all.

Edit a cell

Move the cursor to any cell and press i or <CR>. A popup editor opens with the current value. Edit and press <CR> to stage, or <Esc> to cancel.

The row turns teal in the grid. Press gl to toggle the live SQL float: it shows the exact DML statement that will run, updating as you stage more changes.

NULL values

Press x to set a cell to NULL. The cell displays NULL in red. The generated SQL uses = NULL correctly (not an empty string).

Delete a row

Press d to toggle delete on the row under the cursor. The row turns red. Press d again to unstage the deletion.

Insert a new row

Press o to insert a new row after the cursor. A blank row opens in the popup editor. Fill in each column in sequence. The row turns green when staged.

Clone a row

Press c to duplicate the current row. Primary key columns are cleared so you can fill in a new PK without a conflict. All other columns copy their current values.

Batch editing

Enter visual mode with v or V, select multiple rows, then:

• e to set all selected cells in the current column to the same value
• d to toggle delete on all selected rows
• x to NULL all selected cells

Row view (transpose)

Press K to view the current row as a vertical key-value layout. Each column appears as a labeled row in a floating window, showing the full untruncated value. This is useful for wide tables where horizontal scrolling hides columns.

In visual mode, select multiple rows and press K to stack them in a single float for side-by-side comparison.

Conditional formatting

The grid applies automatic formatting based on cell values:

Conditional formatting is automatic and not configurable. It applies to all grids regardless of database backend.

Mutation preview

Press <C-CR> from the query pad to preview a mutation before executing. The affected rows appear color-coded in the grid. Press a to execute, u to cancel.

Navigate staged rows

Press { to jump to the previous modified row and } to jump to the next. Useful when you have staged edits scattered across a large table and want to review them before applying.

Apply changes

Press a to apply all staged changes. The full mutation runs in a single BEGIN/COMMIT transaction. If any statement fails, the entire batch rolls back and the staging layer stays intact.

Undo

After applying to the database, press u again to open the transaction undo layer. This generates a compensating SQL statement (UPDATE with original values, or INSERT for deleted rows) and applies it in a new transaction with confirmation.

Saved queries

:GripSave   -- save current query pad contents
:GripLoad   -- load a saved query

Queries persist in .grip/queries/ relative to the current working directory. They appear in the gq picker.

GripToggle

Run :GripToggle to close all grip windows (sidebar, query pad, grid) at once. Run it again to reopen them in their previous state. This is useful for temporarily reclaiming screen space without losing your session context.

Watch mode

Watch mode re-runs the current query on a timer and updates the grid automatically. Useful for monitoring changing data or log tables.

:Grip file.csv --watch     -- default 5-second interval
:Grip file.csv --watch=10s -- custom interval

Toggle watch mode on any open grid with gW. An active watch mode shows as a blue badge in the grid winbar.

Write mode

Write mode applies edits back to the file on disk instead of running DML against a database. Supported for Parquet, CSV, JSON, NDJSON, TSV, and Arrow files opened through DuckDB.

:Grip data.parquet --write

Toggle on any open grid with g!. A red badge appears in the grid winbar.