Grist

Grist is a modern relational spreadsheet. It combines the flexibility of a spreadsheet with the robustness of a database to organize your data and make you more productive.

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/118367/151245587-892e50a6-41f5-4b74-9786-fe3566f6b1fb.mp4

Features

(By popular request: we have a specific write-up of Grist vs Airtable that may be helpful). Grist is a hybrid database/spreadsheet, meaning that:

• Columns work like they do in databases. They are named, and hold one kind of data.
• Columns can be filled by formula, spreadsheet-style, with automatic updates when referenced cells change.

Here are some specific feature highlights of Grist:

• Python formulas.
  • Full Python syntax is supported, and the standard library.
  • Many Excel functions also available.
• A portable, self-contained format.
  • Based on SQLite, the most widely deployed database engine.
  • Any tool that can read SQLite can read numeric and text data from a Grist file.
  • Great format for backups that you can be confident you can restore in full.
  • Great format for moving between different hosts.
• Convenient editing and formatting features.
  • Choices and choice lists, for adding colorful tags to records without fuss.
  • References and reference lists, for cross-referencing records in other tables.
  • Attachments, to include media or document files in records.
  • Dates and times, toggles, and special numerics such as currency all have specialized editors and formatting options.
  • Conditional Formatting, letting you control the style of cells with formulas, to draw attention to important information.
• Great for dashboards, visualizations, and data entry.
  • Charts for visualization.
  • Summary tables for summing and counting across groups.
  • Widget linking streamlines filtering and editing data. Grist has a unique approach to visualization, where you can lay out and link distinct widgets to show together, without cramming mixed material into a table.
  • The Filter bar is great for quick slicing and dicing.
• Incremental imports.
  • So you can import a CSV of the last three months activity from your bank...
  • ... and import new activity a month later without fuss or duplicates.
• Integrations.
  • A REST API, Zapier actions/triggers, and support from similar integrators.
  • Import/export to Google drive, Excel format, CSV.
  • Can link data with custom widgets hosted externally.
• Many templates to get you started, from investment research to organizing treasure hunts.
• Access control options.
  • (You'll need SSO logins set up to make use of these options)
  • Share individual documents, or workspaces, or team sites.
  • Control access to individual rows, columns, and tables.
  • Control access based on cell values and user attributes.
• Can be self-maintained.
  • Useful for intranet operation and specific compliance requirements.
• Sandboxing options for untrusted documents.
  • On Linux or with docker, you can enable gVisor sandboxing at the individual document level.
  • On OSX, you can use native sandboxing.

If you are curious about where Grist is going heading, see our roadmap, drop a question in our forum, or browse our extensive documentation.

Using Grist

There are docker images set up for individual use, or (with some configuration) for self-hosting. Grist Labs offers a hosted service at docs.getgrist.com.

To get Grist running on your computer with Docker, do:

docker pull gristlabs/grist
docker run -p 8484:8484 -it gristlabs/grist

Then visit http://localhost:8484 in your browser. You'll be able to create, edit, import, and export documents. To preserve your work across docker runs, share a directory as /persist:

docker run -p 8484:8484 -v $PWD/persist:/persist -it gristlabs/grist

Get templates at templates.getgrist.com for payroll, inventory management, invoicing, D&D encounter tracking, and a lot more, or use any document you've created on docs.getgrist.com.

If you need to change the port Grist runs on, set a PORT variable, don't just change the port mapping:

docker run --env PORT=9999 -p 9999:9999 -v $PWD/persist:/persist -it gristlabs/grist

To enable gVisor sandboxing, set --env GRIST_SANDBOX_FLAVOR=gvisor. This should work with default docker settings, but may not work in all environments.

You can find a lot more about configuring Grist, setting up authentication, and running it on a public server in our Self-Managed Grist handbook.

Building from source

To build Grist from source, follow these steps:

yarn install
yarn run build:prod
yarn run install:python
yarn start
# Grist will be available at http://localhost:8484/

Grist formulas in documents will be run using Python executed directly on your machine. You can configure sandboxing using a GRIST_SANDBOX_FLAVOR environment variable.

• On OSX, export GRIST_SANDBOX_FLAVOR=macSandboxExec uses the native sandbox-exec command for sandboxing.
• On Linux with gVisor's runsc installed, export GRIST_SANDBOX_FLAVOR=gvisor is an option.

These sandboxing methods have been written for our own use at Grist Labs and may need tweaking to work in your own environment - pull requests very welcome here!

Logins

Like git, Grist has features to track document revision history. So for full operation, Grist expects to know who the user modifying a document is. Until it does, it operates in a limited anonymous mode. To get you going, the docker image is configured so that when you click on the "sign in" button Grist will attribute your work to you@example.com. Change this by setting GRIST_DEFAULT_EMAIL:

docker run --env GRIST_DEFAULT_EMAIL=my@email -p 8484:8484 -v $PWD/persist:/persist -it gristlabs/grist

You can change your name in Profile Settings in the User Menu.

For multi-user operation, or if you wish to access Grist across the public internet, you'll want to connect it to your own Single Sign-On service. There are a lot of ways to do this, including SAML and forward authentication. Grist has been tested with Authentik, Auth0, and Google/Microsoft sign-ins via Dex.

Translations

We use Weblate to manage translations. Thanks to everyone who is pitching in. Thanks especially to the ANCT developers who did the hard work of making a good chunk of the application localizable. Merci bien!

Why free and open source software

This repository, grist-core, is maintained by Grist Labs. Our flagship product available at getgrist.com is built from the code you see here, combined with business-specific software designed to scale it to many users, handle billing, etc.

Grist Labs is an open-core company. We offer Grist hosting as a service, with free and paid plans. We also develop and sell features related to Grist using a proprietary license, targeted at the needs of enterprises with large self-managed installations. We see data portability and autonomy as a key value Grist can bring to our users, and grist-core as an essential means to deliver that. We are committed to maintaining and improving the grist-core codebase, and to be thoughtful about how proprietary offerings impact data portability and autonomy.

By opening its source code and offering an OSI-approved free license, Grist benefits its users:

• Developer community. The freedom to examine source code, make bug fixes, and develop new features is a big deal for a general-purpose spreadsheet-like product, where there is a very long tail of features vital to someone somewhere.
• Increased trust. Because anyone can examine the source code, “security by obscurity” is not an option. Vulnerabilities in the code can be found by others and reported before they cause damage.
• Independence. Grist is available to you regardless of the fortunes of the Grist Labs business, since it is open source and can be self-hosted. Using our hosted solution is convenient, but you are not locked in.
• Price flexibility. If you are low on funds but have time to invest, self-hosting is a great option to have. And DIY users may have the technical savvy and motivation to delve in and make improvements, which can benefit all users of Grist.
• Extensibility. For developers, having the source open makes it easier to build extensions (such as the experimental Custom Widget). You can more easily include Grist in your pipeline. And if a feature is missing, you can just take the source code and build on top of it.

Reviews

• Grist on ProductHunt
• Grist on AppSumo (life-time deal is sold out)
• Capterra, G2, TrustRadius

Environment variables

Grist can be configured in many ways. Here are the main environment variables it is sensitive to:

Variable	Purpose
ALLOWED_WEBHOOK_DOMAINS	comma-separated list of permitted domains to use in webhooks (e.g. webhook.site,zapier.com)
APP_DOC_URL	doc worker url, set when starting an individual doc worker (other servers will find doc worker urls via redis)
APP_HOME_URL	url prefix for home api (home and doc servers need this)
APP_STATIC_URL	url prefix for static resources
APP_STATIC_INCLUDE_CUSTOM_CSS	set to "true" to include custom.css (from APP_STATIC_URL) in static pages
APP_UNTRUSTED_URL	URL at which to serve/expect plugin content.
GRIST_ADAPT_DOMAIN	set to "true" to support multiple base domains (careful, host header should be trustworthy)
GRIST_ALLOWED_HOSTS	comma-separated list of permitted domains origin for requests (e.g. my.site,another.com)
GRIST_APP_ROOT	directory containing Grist sandbox and assets (specifically the sandbox and static subdirectories).
GRIST_BACKUP_DELAY_SECS	wait this long after a doc change before making a backup
GRIST_DATA_DIR	directory in which to store document caches.
GRIST_DEFAULT_EMAIL	if set, login as this user if no other credentials presented
GRIST_DEFAULT_PRODUCT	if set, this controls enabled features and limits of new sites. See names of PRODUCTS in Product.ts.
GRIST_DEFAULT_LOCALE	Locale to use as fallback when Grist cannot honour the browser locale.
GRIST_DOMAIN	in hosted Grist, Grist is served from subdomains of this domain. Defaults to "getgrist.com".
GRIST_EXPERIMENTAL_PLUGINS	enables experimental plugins
GRIST_HIDE_UI_ELEMENTS	comma-separated list of parts of the UI to hide. Allowed names of parts: helpCenter,billing,templates,multiSite,multiAccounts
GRIST_HOME_INCLUDE_STATIC	if set, home server also serves static resources
GRIST_HOST	hostname to use when listening on a port.
GRIST_ID_PREFIX	for subdomains of form o-, expect or produce o-${GRIST_ID_PREFIX}.
GRIST_IGNORE_SESSION	if set, Grist will not use a session for authentication.
GRIST_INST_DIR	path to Grist instance configuration files, for Grist server.
GRIST_LIST_PUBLIC_SITES	if set to true, sites shared with the public will be listed for anonymous users. Defaults to false.
GRIST_MANAGED_WORKERS	if set, Grist can assume that if a url targeted at a doc worker returns a 404, that worker is gone
GRIST_MAX_UPLOAD_ATTACHMENT_MB	max allowed size for attachments (0 or empty for unlimited).
GRIST_MAX_UPLOAD_IMPORT_MB	max allowed size for imports (except .grist files) (0 or empty for unlimited).
GRIST_ORG_IN_PATH	if true, encode org in path rather than domain
GRIST_PAGE_TITLE_SUFFIX	a string to append to the end of the <title> in HTML documents. Defaults to " - Grist". Set to _blank for no suffix at all.
GRIST_PROXY_AUTH_HEADER	header which will be set by a (reverse) proxy webserver with an authorized users' email. This can be used as an alternative to a SAML service. See also GRIST_FORWARD_AUTH_HEADER.
GRIST_ROUTER_URL	optional url for an api that allows servers to be (un)registered with a load balancer
GRIST_SERVE_SAME_ORIGIN	set to "true" to access home server and doc workers on the same protocol-host-port as the top-level page, same as for custom domains (careful, host header should be trustworthy)
GRIST_SESSION_COOKIE	if set, overrides the name of Grist's cookie
GRIST_SESSION_DOMAIN	if set, associates the cookie with the given domain - otherwise defaults to GRIST_DOMAIN
GRIST_SESSION_SECRET	a key used to encode sessions
GRIST_FORCE_LOGIN	when set to 'true' disables anonymous access
GRIST_SINGLE_ORG	set to an org "domain" to pin client to that org
GRIST_HELP_CENTER	set the help center link ref
GRIST_SUPPORT_ANON	if set to 'true', show UI for anonymous access (not shown by default)
GRIST_SUPPORT_EMAIL	if set, give a user with the specified email support powers. The main extra power is the ability to share sites, workspaces, and docs with all users in a listed way.
GRIST_THROTTLE_CPU	if set, CPU throttling is enabled
GRIST_USER_ROOT	an extra path to look for plugins in.
COOKIE_MAX_AGE	session cookie max age, defaults to 90 days; can be set to "none" to make it a session cookie
HOME_PORT	port number to listen on for REST API server; if set to "share", add API endpoints to regular grist port.
PORT	port number to listen on for Grist server
REDIS_URL	optional redis server for browser sessions and db query caching

Sandbox related variables:

Variable	Purpose
GRIST_SANDBOX_FLAVOR	can be pynbox, unsandboxed, docker, or macSandboxExec. If set, forces Grist to use the specified kind of sandbox.
GRIST_SANDBOX	a program or image name to run as the sandbox. See NSandbox.ts for nerdy details.
PYTHON_VERSION	can be 2 or 3. If set, documents without an engine setting are assumed to use the specified version of python. Not all sandboxes support all versions.
PYTHON_VERSION_ON_CREATION	can be 2 or 3. If set, newly created documents have an engine setting set to python2 or python3. Not all sandboxes support all versions.

Forward authentication variables:

Variable	Purpose
GRIST_FORWARD_AUTH_HEADER	if set, trust the specified header (e.g. "x-forwarded-user") to contain authorized user emails, and enable "forward auth" logins.
GRIST_FORWARD_AUTH_LOGIN_PATH	if GRIST_FORWARD_AUTH_HEADER is set, Grist will listen at this path for logins. Defaults to /auth/login.
GRIST_FORWARD_AUTH_LOGOUT_PATH	if GRIST_FORWARD_AUTH_HEADER is set, Grist will forward to this path when user logs out.

When using forward authentication, you may wish to also set the following variables:

• GRIST_FORCE_LOGIN=true to disable anonymous access.
• GRIST_IGNORE_SESSION=true to ignore any user identity information in a cookie. Only do this if you use forward authentication on all paths. You may not want to use forward authentication on all paths if it makes signing in required, and you are trying to permit anonymous access.

GRIST_FORWARD_AUTH_HEADER is similar to GRIST_PROXY_AUTH_HEADER, but enables a login system (assuming you have some forward authentication set up).

Google Drive integrations:

Variable	Purpose
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	set to the Google Client Id to be used with Google API client
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	set to the Google Client Secret to be used with Google API client
GOOGLE_API_KEY	set to the Google API Key to be used with Google API client (accessing public files)
GOOGLE_DRIVE_SCOPE	set to the scope requested for Google Drive integration (defaults to drive.file)

Database variables:

Variable	Purpose
TYPEORM_DATABASE	database filename for sqlite or database name for other db types
TYPEORM_HOST	host for db
TYPEORM_LOGGING	set to 'true' to see all sql queries
TYPEORM_PASSWORD	password to use
TYPEORM_PORT	port number for db if not the default for that db type
TYPEORM_TYPE	set to 'sqlite' or 'postgres'
TYPEORM_USERNAME	username to connect as

Testing:

Variable	Purpose
GRIST_TESTING_SOCKET	a socket used for out-of-channel communication during tests only.
GRIST_TEST_HTTPS_OFFSET	if set, adds https ports at the specified offset. This is useful in testing.
GRIST_TEST_SSL_CERT	if set, contains filename of SSL certificate.
GRIST_TEST_SSL_KEY	if set, contains filename of SSL private key.
GRIST_TEST_LOGIN	allow fake unauthenticated test logins (suitable for dev environment only).
GRIST_TEST_ROUTER	if set, then the home server will serve a mock version of router api at /test/router
GREP_TESTS	pattern for selecting specific tests to run (e.g. env GREP_TESTS=ActionLog yarn test).

Tests

Tests are run automatically as part of CI when a PR is opened. However, it can be helpful to run tests locally before pushing your changes to GitHub. First, you'll want to make sure you've installed all dependencies:

yarn install
yarn install:python

Then, you can run the main test suite like so:

yarn test

Python tests may also be run locally. (Note: currently requires Python 3.9.)

yarn test:python

For running specific tests, you can specify a pattern with the GREP_TESTS variable:

env GREP_TESTS=ChoiceList yarn test
env GREP_TESTS=summary yarn test:python

License

This repository, grist-core, is released under the Apache License, Version 2.0, which is an OSI-approved free software license. See LICENSE.txt and NOTICE.txt for more information. If you have received a version of Grist with an ext directory, the material within it is separately licensed.