Skip to main content

Retool Forms tutorial

A hands-on introduction to Retool Forms.

Use Retool Forms to build standalone, customizable forms whose responses are written to a connected SQL database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.). Forms are publicly accessible from a unique URL.

To build forms within apps, use the Forms component.

Requirements​

Retool Forms is available on Retool Cloud and self-hosted Retool versions 3.36 and later.

All users can create and fill out forms. You can build as many forms as you'd like and capture as many responses as your database supports.

To connect forms to an existing database, you must first connect the database as a resource in Retool. To use Retool Database to store responses on self-hosted Retool, you must first configure Retool Database. On cloud-hosted Retool, no additional configuration is required to use Retool Database.

1. Create a form​

Go to the Forms tab and select Create form. Name your form and select Create form.

2. Connect your data​

In the Database tab, select Generate from database to write responses to an existing database, or Start from scratch to store responses in Retool Database. From the Database tab, you can change the underlying database at any time.

If you create your form from scratch, a new table is automatically generated when you publish your form. Generated tables are named after your form.

If your database schema changes as you build your form, you can select ... > Sync from database to view and sync schema changes to your form.

3. Build your form​

You can use the sidebar to reorder your form, and use the drag-and-drop form editor to customize individual fields.

4. Connect a workflow​

Triggering Retool workflows from form submissions is currently rolling out for self-hosted Retool.

From the Workflows tab, you can trigger a Retool workflow on successful form submissions. Ensure your workflow has webhook triggers enabled. All form fields are passed as workflow parameters.

5. Set themes​

In the Settings tab, you can customize the color, typography, and border radius on your form to match your organization's branding.

6. Preview and publish your form​

To preview your form before you publish it, select the preview icon in the upper right. To generate a shareable URL for your form, select Publish in the upper right. Once published, the form is accessible to any user given the unique URL.

7. Use form responses​

After you publish and distribute your form, select the Responses tab to view form responses. Responses are read-only, but you can click Clone as Retool app to copy the data to an app, or Download to download the data as a CSV.