Data streaming

Learn about streaming data from resources in Retool.

Retool supports streaming data from resources for some data sources using pull mechanisms. When pulling data from resources, the Retool UI incrementally updates as soon as a row or chunk of data arrives. Without streaming, the entire data payload must be downloaded before it renders. Depending on network latency, bandwidth, and the size of the data, streaming can improve performance and user experience.

Stream with Retool AI actions

In Retool AI, streaming is enabled by default for the generate text, summarize text, and generate chat response actions. The .data properties of these Retool AI queries are continuously updated.

Stream PostgreSQL responses

Streaming in PostgreSQL is in beta. Fill out the streaming beta form to request access.

To enable streaming in PostgreSQL responses after you gain access, check the Stream response data and update app model incrementally checkbox in the Advanced tab of the query editor.

When streaming is enabled, a query's .data property updates one or more times, each with the latest partial download of the query response while it downloads. Each update is always a set of complete rows of data, so .data always spans from rows 1-N, where N is the latest row received.

Without streaming, the .data property updates to the result of the query once, after the full download is complete.