inspect

Fetch form metadata and risk flags — no submit. Anonymous fetch by default; use --auth / --profile when the form requires Google sign-in (file uploads, org restrict).

basic usage

gform inspect <form>
gform inspect ./forms/<form>.yaml
gform inspect 'https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/…/viewform'
gform insp <form>                   # short alias

# login-walled / file-upload forms:
gform inspect 'https://…/viewform' --auth
gform inspect 'https://…/viewform' --profile work
gform insp 'https://…/viewform' -A -pr work

Pass a URL directly, or a form name/path (gform loads the YAML and inspects its url: field). On a TTY, omit the target to pick a form from the library.

gform inspect              # TTY: pick a form, then inspect its url

Meta shows a gate (ok · login_required · unavailable · bot_check · closed · unparsed) and whether the fetch used auth. Invalid URLs fail before any network call.

risk flags

The output includes a Flags section:

flag	meaning
fillable	form looks open for responses
closed	owner closed the form
loginWall	sign-in required to view
alreadyResponded	limit-to-1 signal for current session context
fileUpload	has file-upload questions
collectEmail	owner collects respondent email (data-email-from-recipient-required + FB mode)
invisibleCaptcha	invisible captcha attribute on submit

Also shows question count (answerable only — excludes section / title chrome), types breakdown (includes rating, title, …), and a question list (respects global -T / -F list limits). Title blocks render as [title].

gform run inspects first (unless --skip-inspect), then probes the live page after open. Hard walls abort; soft walls may assist. Collect-email without --auth warns; --strict hard-fails. See limitations.md.

JSON output

gform inspect <form> --json
gform inspect <form> -j

Machine-readable inspection object — useful for scripting preflight checks.

when to inspect

situation	command
before first run on a new form	gform inspect <name>
owner may have closed the form	quick inspect
planning --auth	check loginWall
planning --strict or safe policy	check invisibleCaptcha
comparing URL vs saved YAML	inspect the URL directly

gotchas

• Collect-email is a real flag (collectEmail / mode). Limit-to-1 / org-restrict still often show up only as login wall or already-responded when signed in.
• File-upload forms almost always need --auth for inspect/init — anonymous HTML has no FB_PUBLIC_LOAD_DATA_.
• --policy on gform list fetches the same live flags per form (slower). inspect is the single-form deep dive.
• Login-walled forms: gform init <url> --auth (or --profile) after inspect confirms the gate.

related

• run.md — preflight + execute
• list.md — list --policy for all forms
• limitations.md — wall behavior
• init.md — scaffold from URL
• verify.md — offline schema check