Watch Mode

Watch mode re-runs the current query on a configurable interval and updates the grid in place. Use it to monitor tables that change frequently: job queues, event logs, real-time dashboards, or any table you want to tail.

Start with a flag

:Grip table_name --watch           " default 5-second interval
:Grip table_name --watch=10s       " 10-second interval
:Grip table_name --watch=30s       " 30-second interval

The interval suffix is s (seconds). The minimum is 1 second.

Toggle on an open grid

Press gW from any open grid to toggle watch mode on or off without closing the grid.

A blue WATCH badge appears in the grid winbar while watch mode is active:

 customers  [WATCH 5s]  page 1/3

The badge shows the current interval. The grid refreshes silently in the background without moving the cursor.

Behavior

  • The query re-runs from scratch on each tick. New rows appear, deleted rows disappear, updated rows reflect their new values.
  • Sort, filter, and page state are preserved across refreshes. If you have filtered to status = 'pending' and paginated to page 2, that view stays intact.
  • If the underlying table changes schema between ticks, watch mode stops and shows an error in the status bar.
  • Watch mode stops automatically when you close the grid or switch to a different table.

Useful patterns

Monitor a job queue:

SELECT id, status, payload, created_at
FROM jobs
WHERE status IN ('pending', 'running')
ORDER BY created_at DESC

Open with --watch=3s. Watch rows move from pending to running to done in real time.

Tail a log table:

SELECT timestamp, level, message
FROM application_logs
ORDER BY timestamp DESC
LIMIT 50

Open with --watch=5s. The 50 most recent log lines update every 5 seconds.

Track a counter:

SELECT COUNT(*) AS total, COUNT(CASE WHEN processed THEN 1 END) AS done
FROM events

A single-row aggregate that ticks forward as events are processed.

Watch mode and write mode

Watch mode and write mode (g!) are mutually exclusive. Watch mode re-fetches from the source on each tick. Write mode stages edits to write back to a file. Enabling one disables the other.