How to debug and monitor blockchain pipelines with Live Inspect

Overview

Live Inspect provides an interactive terminal user interface (TUI) for monitoring and debugging your pipelines. View live data samples as they flow through each topology node (sources, transforms, and sinks) with features like multi-tab navigation, search, and scrolling.

Use Live Inspect when debugging pipeline logic, verifying transform outputs, or understanding data flow through complex pipelines.

Basic usage

Inspect live data from a running pipeline:

goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline

Or use a pipeline configuration file:

goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline.yaml

This opens an interactive TUI that displays live data organized by topology node, with real-time updates as new records arrive.

Command options

string

required

Pipeline name or path to YAML configuration file

string

Comma-separated list of topology node keys to filter. Only shows data from the specified nodes. Example: -n source1,transform1

integer

default:"10000"

Maximum number of records to keep in the TUI buffer. Older records are removed when this limit is reached.

boolean

default:"false"

Print records to stdout instead of opening the TUI. Useful for piping data to other tools or redirecting to files.

TUI interface

The inspect command opens an interactive terminal interface with the following features: Data is organized into tabs by topology node. The All tab shows records from all nodes, while individual tabs show records from specific sources, transforms, or sinks. Tabs appear dynamically as data arrives from each node.

Key	Action
`Tab`, `→`, or `l`	Next tab
`Shift+Tab`, `←`, or `h`	Previous tab
`1-9`	Jump to tab by number

Scrolling

Navigate through records using keyboard or mouse:

Key	Action
`j` or `↓`	Scroll down one line
`k` or `↑`	Scroll up one line
`g` or `Home`	Jump to top
`G` or `End`	Jump to bottom
`Page Up/Down`	Scroll by page
Mouse wheel	Scroll up/down

Hold Shift while using the mouse to select and copy text from the TUI.

Search

Search across all visible records with highlighted matches:

Key	Action
`/`	Start search
`Enter`	Execute search
`n`	Jump to next match
`N`	Jump to previous match
`Esc`	Cancel search input, or clear an active search query

Pipeline definition

Press d to toggle the pipeline definition view. On the All tab, this shows the complete pipeline YAML. On individual node tabs, it shows only that node’s configuration.

Additional shortcuts

Key	Action
`w`	Open pipeline in web dashboard
`e`	Open pipeline in web editor
`q`, `Ctrl+C`, or `Esc` (when no active search)	Quit

Filtering topology nodes

By default, Live Inspect shows data from all nodes in your pipeline. Filter to specific nodes using the -n flag:

# Inspect only a specific source
goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline -n polygon_transfers

# Inspect multiple nodes
goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline -n filtered_transfers,enriched_events

Use filtering to focus on specific parts of your pipeline when debugging complex data flows.

Auto-reconnection

The TUI automatically reconnects when:

The pipeline is updated, paused, or resumed
The connection is temporarily lost
The pipeline is stopped and restarted

While waiting to reconnect, the TUI displays a “Reconnecting…” status and preserves previously received data. The status bar shows the time since the last record was received.

The TUI has a 30-minute connection timeout. If the pipeline remains unreachable for 30 minutes, the TUI automatically closes with a message suggesting you check the pipeline status.

Buffer management

The TUI maintains a buffer of recent records for scrolling and searching. By default, it keeps the last 10,000 records. Adjust this with the -b flag:

# Keep more records for longer history
goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline -b 50000

# Use less memory with a smaller buffer
goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline -b 1000

When the buffer is full, older records are removed as new ones arrive.

Print mode

Use the --print flag to stream records directly to stdout instead of opening the TUI. This is useful for:

Piping data to other tools like jq for filtering or transformation
Redirecting output to files for later analysis
Integrating with shell scripts or automation workflows

# Stream records to stdout
goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline --print

# Filter JSON output with jq
goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline -p | jq '.data.value'

# Save records to a file
goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline -p > records.json

# Filter specific fields and save
goldsky turbo inspect my-pipeline -p | jq -c '{block: .block_number, hash: .tx_hash}' >> filtered.jsonl

In print mode:

Records are pretty-printed as JSON to stdout
Status messages (like “Streaming live data…”) are sent to stderr
Press Ctrl+C to stop streaming
Each record is separated by a line of dashes for readability

Combine --print with -n to filter to specific topology nodes before piping to other tools.

Example

Inspect a pipeline and filter to a specific transform:

goldsky turbo inspect erc20-filtered-transfers -n filtered_transfers

The TUI displays:

Pipeline name and status in the header
Tabs for each topology node receiving data
Live records with JSON pretty-printing
Status bar with last record time and keyboard shortcuts

Use cases

Debugging transform logic

Use Live Inspect to verify that your SQL transforms are filtering and transforming data correctly. Switch between tabs to compare input and output of each transform.

Verifying data sources

Quickly verify that your sources are producing data in the expected format. Use search to find specific records or patterns.

Monitoring deployments

After deploying with goldsky turbo apply -i, the TUI opens automatically so you can verify data is flowing correctly.

Troubleshooting

No data appearing

If you don’t see any data:

Verify your pipeline is running: goldsky turbo list
Check that data is flowing: goldsky turbo logs my-pipeline
The TUI shows “Waiting for records…” until data arrives
If the pipeline is starting, the TUI will auto-reconnect when it becomes active

Pipeline not found

If you see “Pipeline not found”, verify the pipeline name with goldsky turbo list or check that your YAML file path is correct.

Turbo

API

Reference

Live inspect

Overview

Basic usage

Command options

TUI interface

Multi-tab navigation

Scrolling

Search

Pipeline definition

Additional shortcuts

Filtering topology nodes

Auto-reconnection

Buffer management

Print mode

Example

Use cases

Troubleshooting

​Overview

​Basic usage

​Command options

​TUI interface

​Multi-tab navigation

​Scrolling

​Search

​Pipeline definition

​Additional shortcuts

​Filtering topology nodes

​Auto-reconnection

​Buffer management

​Print mode

​Example

​Use cases

​Troubleshooting

Overview

Basic usage

Command options

TUI interface

Multi-tab navigation

Scrolling

Search

Pipeline definition

Additional shortcuts

Filtering topology nodes

Auto-reconnection

Buffer management

Print mode

Example

Use cases

Troubleshooting