How Grist uses Grist - October 23, 2025
A webinar showcasing how Grist employees use Grist for both business and personal projects, demonstrating real-world use cases and practical applications.
Published Oct 27, 2025 by Grist
Key Insights
Grist can be used in both hosted (on Grist's servers) and self-hosted (on your own servers) configurations, with self-hosting enabling additional features like the request function.
Grist supports advanced data organization with features like timestamp tracking, reference columns, and custom widgets that enable powerful visualizations.
Access rules in Grist allow for sophisticated permission management, including preventing duplicate entries and limiting what specific users can see.
Formulas in Grist can connect to external data sources (in self-hosted instances) and perform complex calculations to generate practical outputs like game configs or currency conversions.
Grist serves diverse use cases from personal hobby tracking (game collections) to business applications (contractor invoices) and planning tools (travel itineraries).
Custom widgets allow for advanced data visualization, such as sunburst charts to show relationships between different data categories.
The Template Gallery provides pre-built documents based on real user cases that can be adapted for similar needs.
0:10
User Questions
“Self-hosted Grist means that it's hosted on your own servers whereas hosted Grist is Grist hosting the servers. You access it at getgrist.com.”
The webinar begins by addressing pre-submitted user questions. The first question covers the difference between self-hosted and hosted Grist, explaining that self-hosted runs on the user's own servers while hosted Grist runs on Grist's servers.
The second question addresses how to record timestamps when toggle columns are updated. The presenter demonstrates how to use the timestamp feature to track when toggles are changed, showing both how to record any change and how to only record when a toggle is set to true using conditional formulas.
Takeaways
Self-hosted Grist runs on your own servers and allows for more customization like using the request function
Hosted Grist runs on Grist's servers and is accessed through getgrist.com
Timestamps can be easily added to track when records are created or modified
Formula columns can be used to conditionally record timestamps based on specific conditions
4:36
Jordi's NES Collection
“This is a really clean, simple document with a great use of summary tables and charts. So, the majority of his data is in a single table.”
Jordi, a developer at Grist, uses a self-hosted Grist instance to track his Nintendo Entertainment System game collection. His document features a main data table listing games he owns or wants to purchase, with columns for URLs, pricing in different currencies, purchase status, and play status.
The document showcases advanced features like the request function (available only in self-hosted instances) to verify URL validity and automatically fetch current exchange rates from the Bank of Canada website. The document also includes a custom widget with a plotly sunburst chart visualizing his game collection by purchase and play status.
Takeaways
Self-hosted Grist enables the request function to pull in external data like currency exchange rates
Even with only 36 records, Grist can provide valuable summaries and visualizations
Custom widgets can create advanced visualizations like sunburst charts to show relationships between data categories
Formula columns can perform automatic currency conversions using external data sources
11:36
Nick's Google Ads Keyword Generator
“I was working on some Google Ads campaigns and I noticed there was a programmatic way to generate these keywords but we were doing it manually. So I thought, why can't I use Grist to help generate keywords?”
Nick from the marketing team demonstrates a Grist document he created to programmatically generate keywords for Google Ads campaigns. The document combines prefixes, roots, and suffixes to automatically create all possible keyword combinations, with functionality to filter out unwanted phrases using a blacklist.
While Nick admits the strategy isn't optimal for modern Google Ads campaigns, the document shows how Grist can automate repetitive tasks. The document also includes a section for generating ad copy that meets Google's character limits, formatting the output for easy import into Google Ads.
Takeaways
Grist can automate repetitive tasks like generating all combinations of keywords
Blacklists can be used to filter out unwanted combinations
The document formats data for easy export to other platforms like Google Ads
Even "imperfect" Grist documents can provide significant time savings and utility
23:13
Callum's Game Skills Tree
“They copy this text into the game files and then it just loads what they want into the game which is really cool. So they can just set everything up in Grist and organize it and then they have all the code ready to go.”
Callum, a Grist developer who also works for Savage Game Design, uses Grist to plan skills, abilities, and equipment unlocks for the game SOG Prairie Fire. The document organizes skills into trees with tiers, points costs, and other game-specific attributes like duration and cooldown.
The most impressive feature is how the document automatically generates game configuration code that can be copied directly into the game files. The document also includes sections for equipment progression, ensuring that attachments and magazines are only unlocked when their compatible weapons are available, with reference columns and dropdown conditions to maintain these relationships.
Takeaways
Grist can be used to generate code configurations for technical applications
Reference columns with dropdown conditions ensure data integrity and relationships
The skills tree custom widget provides visual representation of hierarchical data
Organizing complex game mechanics in Grist makes balancing easier than doing it directly in the game
Savage Game Design uses Grist to turn real veterans' stories into structured game data
32:09
Marketing's Reddit Post Tracker
“The feature that they thought y'all would be most interested in seeing in this document is that duplicate entries are restricted.”
The marketing team uses Grist to track Reddit posts related to Grist by keyword. The document includes columns for tracking the keyword used to find the post, the subreddit, whether they've commented, and who found the post, along with categorization of the keywords into clusters.
A key feature demonstrated is how the document prevents duplicate entries using a hidden column that detects duplicates and access rules that restrict creation of records with duplicate URLs. The document also uses the last updated timestamp feature to track when records were modified, with a practical example of how this can be useful for inventory tracking.
Takeaways
Hidden columns with detect duplicates functionality can identify existing records
Access rules can prevent duplicate entries by restricting record creation based on column values
Last updated timestamp columns automatically track when records are modified
Card widgets can be used to show less frequently used fields, keeping the main view tidy
Simple data tables can be easily visualized with summary charts
40:35
Grist's Contractor Invoices
“Contractors can access this document but only see their own invoice information.”
Dimitri's submission shows how Grist is used internally to track contractor invoices. The document consists of four tables: people (contractors), access (for permission management), rates, and invoices. Conditional formatting highlights contractors with missing invoices in red, and inactive contractors with gray strikethrough formatting.
The document demonstrates sophisticated access rules that allow contractors to log in and view only their own invoices while administrators can see everything. The system tracks rate changes over time, graying out old rates, and provides summary tables for accounting purposes. The document uses linked widgets to show invoice details when contractors are selected.
Takeaways
Access rules enable secure sharing where users only see their own data
Conditional formatting makes it easy to identify records needing attention
Multiple linked tables can create complex relationships between data
Widget linking creates intuitive interfaces where selecting a record updates related information
Historical data like old rates can be preserved but visually distinguished
48:38
Natalie's Travel Planning
“I plan all of my trips in Grist. For example, like if I'm shopping for a flight, I actually have a different page that I use, but I'll put the flights that I'm most interested in into this little table so I can compare them.”
Natalie demonstrates her personal travel planning document, which she uses to organize trips. The document allows her to compare flight options, create detailed itineraries, and organize activities by location using map widgets.
A particularly useful feature is the ability to attach files like confirmation documents to activities or lodging entries, making them accessible from her phone while traveling. The document helps with trip planning by visualizing activities on a map, allowing her to group nearby attractions together for efficient scheduling, whether for a road trip through Arkansas or a honeymoon in Hawaii.
Takeaways
Grist's file attachment feature makes travel documents accessible on mobile devices
Map widgets help visualize location-based data for better planning
Custom tags can be created to categorize and easily identify activities
Personal use cases demonstrate Grist's versatility beyond business applications
The Template Gallery includes this travel planning template for others to use
50:36
Template Gallery Tip
“Most of my use cases are in our template gallery. So, I would recommend checking that out. You can get to it from your homepage.”
In the final section, Natalie recommends checking out the Template Gallery, accessible from the Grist homepage under Grist Resources. The gallery contains numerous templates based on real use cases from Grist employees and users.
She mentions that many of her personal Grist documents have been converted into templates, including the travel planning document just demonstrated. The templates provide inspiration and starting points for users looking to create similar documents for their own needs, whether for business or personal use.
Takeaways
The Template Gallery provides pre-built documents for various use cases
Templates come from real user applications, both business and personal
Templates can be accessed from the Grist homepage under Grist Resources
The gallery offers inspiration for creating your own Grist documents
Conclusion
This webinar provides an insightful look into how Grist's own team members utilize the tool, demonstrating its remarkable versatility across business operations and personal projects. From Jordi's game collection with currency conversion to Callum's game development tool that generates actual code, and from Nick's keyword generator to Natalie's travel planner, these real-world examples showcase Grist's ability to adapt to virtually any data organization need.
What makes Grist particularly powerful is how it combines simplicity with advanced functionality. Simple tables can become powerful tools through formulas, widgets, and access rules—whether you're preventing duplicate entries, automatically generating configuration code, or creating intuitive dashboards for contractors.
So what? Grist isn't just another spreadsheet or database tool—it's a flexible platform that can transform how you manage information. The examples shown demonstrate that with minimal setup, users can create custom solutions that would otherwise require specialized software or programming. By exploring the Template Gallery and adapting these examples to your own needs, you can leverage the same powerful features that Grist's own team relies on for both their work and personal lives.