Continuous queries in BigQuery?

[elecnix]

Hello!

I was going through the output of bq help query and found a --continuous option:

continuous: [Optional] Specifies whether the query should be executed as a
continuous query. The default value is false.

I could not find any related documentation.

$ bq query --continuous 'select count(*) from dataset.mytable'
Error in query string: Error processing job '...': Legacy SQL queries cannot run continuously.

What queries can run continuously?

[ms4446]

The --continuous option in bq query refers to a feature currently under development and not yet fully documented by Google Cloud. This feature allows you to run specific types of queries continuously, updating their results in real-time as new data arrives in the source tables.

Currently, only GoogleSQL queries that meet specific criteria can run continuously. The error message you encountered indicates that Legacy SQL queries are not yet supported for continuous execution.

Unfortunately, due to its development stage, the precise criteria for continuous queries are not yet publicly documented.

[kolban]

This appears to be a feature that is only unlocked for customers who have been successfully enrolled in the Private Preview.  I am thinking that when you enrolled (or were enrolled or someone enrolled you) that Google supplied an email or contacts for feedback on the unreleased feature.  Let me suggest that you see if you can find that notification and report there.  If you don't know or haven't heard of that notification, reach out to your enterprise Google account team and they can chase up on your behalf.

Doing some digging, if you need to provide feedback on this feature, there is a Google Email address:

bq-continuous-queries-feedback@google.com

to which you can post.

[nickorlove · Accepted solution]

Hey Elecnix,

I'm the product manager for this feature. As highlighted above, this feature is current under development and in a private preview. So unless we've allowlisted your project to use this feature, you won't have the ability to call this option. We'll actually be speaking in more detail about this feature at the Next conference in April. Here's a link to my session in case you're able to attend and/or view the recording afterwards: https://cloud.withgoogle.com/next/session-library?session=ANA211

Thanks, Nick