Note: Brand-new Grist user here.
When I open my Airtable desktop app, I get an interface to my on-line Airtable data.
In contrast, when I open my Grist desktop App, I seem to get access to local data only, under a user name I’ve never used. I can access a local copy of my on-line data, downloaded as a .grist file; but it’s a separate copy, not my live data.
There are certainly times when that’s handy, of course, e.g., when and where I have no internet access. (Some planning is required, then, to make sure I’ve downloaded my latest data.) It’s not so handy when a Workspace is deliberately created for collaboration purposes, so that others will be updating it.
Is online data access an option with the desktop version? Or is it strictly for access to local data?
I recognize that there are tradeoffs. Using the web version of Grist ensures that I’m running the latest and greatest version of the App. As of this writing, the desktop version dates back to September, 2024.
Just a Grist user here but this is my understanding: Grist is designed to be accessed from a web browser and it doesn’t need a specialized client.
Grist desktop is a special packaged up version of the open source components of Grist designed be a simple, stand alone version of Grist for one person (mostly, you can use it muti-user with limitations). There is also Grist Core which is the main functionality of Grist which you can host on your own server or Grist Omnibus which designed to be hosted in major cloud services from Microsoft or Amazon (like your own private GetGrist.com).
So no, the Grist Desktop isn’t designed to interact with Grist Data online dynamically HOWEVER I have set up an automated process on a local server to download my client’s (I am an IT consultant) database from GetGrist every night using the Grist API (another advantage of Grist is API access). This means if GetGrist.com goes offline for an extended period of time, my clients can still access their data as of the last backup and keep working - even in the limited multiuser mode of Grist Desktop or Grist Core hosted locally. This is HUGE peace of mind and why I recommend Grist over solutions like Airtable where you can’t get your data back out in a database format.
You may want to look at a hosted version of Grist Core or Grist Omnibus if you want to control a multi-user version of web based Grist of your own. However GetGrist.com per user pricing is pretty darn cheap so make sure you consider if it is worth it to do your own hosting.
Yes, I get that. But not solely a web browser. As you point out, it has an API.
Yes, I get that. I’ll rephrase the question: Given that (like Airtable) it doesn’t need a specialized client program, does it allow its own desktop program to act as a client (like Airtable)? The answer seems to be “no.”
Which is fine. I just wanted to be sure that I understood the design intent, and my resulting options. Thanks for clearing that up!
As a long-time programmer, familiar with SQLite and Python, I very much like what I’m seeing!
Edit: Following Python’s maxim, “Explicit is better than implicit”, I would suggest that this design (and implementation) decision be prominently stated, where Grist desktop is mentioned. The existence of Airtable’s desktop client, with its different choices, shows that Grist’s choices are not a foregone conclusion, nor even obvious ones.
You could use the API to develop an app to basically function as a desktop client. For example I build a simple app that backs up a client’s grist database locally and as an Excel file for some offline reporting needs. It basically just presents a big red “Download” button to them to make the process super simple (it already is petty simple in the web interface but this is usable by people with basically no training). However you could pull a list of data from a table, accept a new input and push that input to the table, delete records and so on. You can even create workspaces and such so the API is pretty powerful. So for specialized interfaces, import/exporting data, pushing out of band things in or out, interacting with Zapier like services, etc - your right the API is great.
I also agree the Grist “Desktop” program is a bit of a confusing name - it is Grist itself and not an interface to Grist. Not sure if I could come up with a better name but maybe the description could be improved
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Looks feasible. I’ve done GUIs in C++ Builder for a few decades, and in Anvil for several years. Python, via PyGrister, is also an option. I hope to get into Grist’s API soon.