Grist Zapier integrationAutomate Grist with Zapier.
The Grist Zapier integration gives you 4 triggers, 3 actions and 1 search. All of it works on records: catch the new or changed rows of a table, write rows from other apps, and find an existing row before any step touches it.
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What the Grist Zapier integration does
It connects your Grist documents to Zapier, so that a row added or changed in a table starts an automation, and so that other apps can write rows into Grist for you. Grist is not a premium app, so it runs on the free plan. One condition: this integration only talks to Grist's standard hosted service, not to a copy you host yourself.
The single most useful thing to know first: each Grist event comes in two versions. New Record and New or Updated Record wait for Zapier's scheduled check; their Instant twins are pushed by Grist the moment the row changes, on any plan. Pick the Instant one unless you have a reason not to.
Three results people build. Rows that copy themselves: a registration lands in one table and Create Record files it into another. A table that stays deduplicated: Create or Update Record matches on the fields you choose and edits the row instead of adding a twin. A lookup before a write: Find Record fetches the exact row a later step should change.
What it does not do: there is no visible action to delete a record, nothing at the document or table level, and no catch-up on rows that existed before the Zap went live. Comparing tools? The Grist n8n integration and Grist Make integration pages use the same layout.
Zapier vocabulary in one minute
Seven terms come back throughout. Here they are once, in plain words.
- Zap
- The automation you build: one starting event, then one or more steps that run every time that event happens.
- Trigger
- The Grist event that starts the Zap, such as a new row. Once the Zap is on, Zapier waits for it by itself.
- Action
- What the Zap does once started: the step that creates, updates or writes a record for you.
- Task
- Zapier's billing unit: one action that completes successfully. Your plan's allowance counts these, not Zaps.
- Polling vs instant
- Polling: Zapier asks Grist for new rows on a timer. Instant: Grist calls Zapier as soon as the row changes.
- Filter
- A step that lets the Zap continue only when the row meets your condition, and stops it quietly otherwise.
- Search step
- A step that finds a record already in a table, so the steps after it can read or change that exact row.
What it really costs
The trigger is free. Every row you write is not.
- Premium appNo, works on the free plan
- Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
- Instant triggersNew Record (Instant), New or Updated Record (Instant)
- HostingGrist's standard hosted service only
A Grist trigger never costs a task, polling or instant, and Zapier's checks are free too. You pay one task for each action that completes, so a Zap with two actions uses two tasks each time both succeed. Failed actions are not billed. The free plan gives you 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, but each Zap stops at two steps: one trigger and one action. A filter, a Find Record step or a second action makes it multi-step, which requires a paid plan.
Connect your Grist account
- 01
Open Apps
In Zapier, go to the Apps page of your account and click + Add connection. A connection is your Grist account linked once, then reused by every Zap that touches Grist.
- 02
Pick Grist
Search for Grist in the dialog, select it and click Add connection. A tab opens where you sign in to Grist, on the hosted service this integration supports.
- 03
Allow access
Grant Zapier access to your account. Back in Zapier, the connection shows up in your list, and each Grist step lets you pick it from its account menu.
Your first Zap: file paid registrations as attendees
GoalWhen a new row lands in the Registrations table and it is marked as paid, create or update the matching row in the Attendees table.
- 01
Create the Zap
From your Zapier dashboard, start a new Zap. The editor opens on the first step, the trigger, which is always where a Zap starts.
- 02
Set the instant trigger
Choose Grist and New Record (Instant), your connection, then the Team, the Document and the Registrations table. The lightning bolt on the card shows it is instant.
- 03
Test on a real row
Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent rows of the table; add one first if it is empty, then pick it so the next steps map real values.
- 04
Keep only paid rows
Click the plus icon and add Filter: your payment column, a text rule, the value paid. The Zap is now multi-step, so it needs a paid plan.
- 05
Write the attendee
Add Create or Update Record on the Attendees table, choose the email column as the field to match on, and map the columns from the registration row.
- 06
Test and publish
Test the action, check Attendees in Grist, then publish the Zap. Writing into a different table from the one you watch is what keeps it from looping.
Grist triggers
4 events start a Zap when something happens in Grist, and 2 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.
New Record
Polling triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a new record is created.”
Watches one table and starts the Zap for every row added to it. This is the scheduled version: it waits for Zapier's next check rather than being told.
New Record (Instant)
Instant triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a new record is created.”
Same event as New Record, a row added to the table you pick, but Grist pushes it to Zapier itself, so the next steps run without waiting.
New or Updated Record
Polling triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a record is created or updated.”
Catches rows that are created and rows that are edited afterwards, on a schedule. It is the trigger for tracking a status that moves inside a table.
New or Updated Record (Instant)
Instant triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a record is created or updated.”
The pushed version of New or Updated Record: Grist reports the creation or the edit of a row the moment it is saved, and the Zap carries it on.
Grist actions
Grist gives you 3 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Create or Update Record
ActionIn Zapier“Creates a new record in a table, or updates an existing matching record.”
Looks for a row that matches on the destination columns you pick, edits it if found, and creates it if not. One step instead of a search plus a write.
Create Record
ActionIn Zapier“Creates a new record in a table.”
Adds a new row to the table you choose, filling its columns with values mapped from earlier steps.
Update Record
ActionIn Zapier“Updates an existing record.”
Changes an existing row you point it to, leaving the rest of the table alone.
Grist search
1 search step looks for data that already exists in Grist, so a later step can use it.
A search step finds a row that already exists so later steps can use it. Searches sit at the bottom of the Action event list, under their own SEARCH heading. Three settings decide what happens when the result is not the one you expected.
Find Record
SearchFind or createIn Zapier“Finds a record in a table.”
Picks out a row of a table by the value of one column and hands it to the steps that follow.
The three settings every search exposes
- Successful if no search results are found?Left on its default, a search that finds nothing stops the Zap and skips the steps that depended on it. Switch it on and the Zap carries on empty-handed.
- Create Record if it doesn't exist yet?Ticking this turns Find Record into Find or Create Record: the setting above disappears and Zapier asks for the columns needed to create the missing row.
- If multiple search results are found?Three ways out when several rows match: keep the first, which is the default, stop the Zap, or hand every match on at once.
When it breaks
Zapier attaches no help article to Grist. These are the general limits that bite a table first.
Before blaming Grist, check how the Zap reads the table. Check the four cases below before rebuilding anything, and keep in mind that only the standard hosted service connects. When a run history still shows errors you cannot place, our Zapier troubleshooting guide walks through the method.
Existing rows never come through
A Zap reacts only to what happens after you switch it on. Rows already in the table stay put; moving them is a separate job.Writing to the watched table loops
A Zap that writes into the table its own trigger watches sets itself off on every write, especially with New or Updated Record, and burns tasks fast.A bulk import gets held back
When a table suddenly returns a huge batch, after an import or a paste of many rows, Zapier's flood protection can hold the run back.A polled row is not sent twice
On the polling triggers, Zapier remembers the rows it has already seen, so the same new row does not start the Zap a second time.
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