diff --git a/client/src/components/History/providers/HistoryContentProvider/loadContents.js b/client/src/components/History/providers/HistoryContentProvider/loadContents.js
index a18488e4028..8a57785f2e8 100644
--- a/client/src/components/History/providers/HistoryContentProvider/loadContents.js
+++ b/client/src/components/History/providers/HistoryContentProvider/loadContents.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-import { pipe, defer, of } from "rxjs";
-import { repeat, switchMap, catchError } from "rxjs/operators";
-import { tag } from "rxjs-spy/operators/tag";
-import { decay } from "../../../../utils/observable/decay";
+import { defer, of } from "rxjs";
+import { repeat, switchMap, switchMapTo, startWith, debounceTime } from "rxjs/operators";
+import { decay } from "utils/observable/decay";
+import { monitorXHR } from "utils/observable/monitorXHR";
 import { loadHistoryContents } from "../../caching";
 
 // prettier-ignore
@@ -13,21 +13,32 @@ export const loadContents = (cfg = {}) => {
         disablePoll = false,
     } = cfg;
 
-    return pipe(
-        switchMap(([{id}, params, hid]) => {
-            const singleLoad$ = defer(() => of([id, params, hid]).pipe(
-                tag('ajaxLoadInputs'),
-                loadHistoryContents({ windowSize }),
-            ));
-            const poll$ = singleLoad$.pipe(
-                decay({ initialInterval, maxInterval }),
-                repeat(),
-            );
-            return disablePoll ? singleLoad$ : poll$;
-        }),
-        catchError(err => {
-            console.warn("Error in loadContents", err);
-            throw err;
-        })
-    );
+    return switchMap(([{id}, params, hid]) => {
+
+        // a single history update
+        const singleLoad$ = defer(() => of([id, params, hid]).pipe(
+            loadHistoryContents({ windowSize }),
+        ));
+
+        // start repeating, delay gets longer over time until unsubscribed
+        const freshPoll$ = singleLoad$.pipe(
+            decay({ initialInterval, maxInterval }),
+            repeat(),
+        );
+
+        // history, tools routes all refresh
+        // exclude our own polling url though
+        const routes = [/api\/(history|tools|histories)/];
+        const methods = ["POST", "PUT", "DELETE"]
+        const resetPoll$ = monitorXHR({ methods, routes });
+
+        // resets re-subscribe to freshPoll$ starting the decay over again
+        const poll$ = resetPoll$.pipe(
+            startWith(true),
+            debounceTime(100),
+            switchMapTo(freshPoll$)
+        );
+
+        return disablePoll ? singleLoad$ : poll$;
+    })
 }
diff --git a/client/src/utils/observable/decay.js b/client/src/utils/observable/decay.js
index 5d297b00d78..1c3b702da7c 100644
--- a/client/src/utils/observable/decay.js
+++ b/client/src/utils/observable/decay.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // Stateful delay gets longer with each repeated call
-import { pipe, of } from "rxjs";
+import { of } from "rxjs";
 import { mergeMap, delay } from "rxjs/operators";
 
 // prettier-ignore
@@ -16,13 +16,11 @@ export const decay = (cfg = {}) => {
 
     let counter = 0;
 
-    return pipe(
-        mergeMap(val => {
-            let waitTime = Math.floor(initialInterval * Math.exp(lambda * counter++));
-            waitTime = Math.max(waitTime, initialInterval);
-            waitTime = Math.min(waitTime, maxInterval);
-            // console.log("decay time", waitTime);
-            return of(val).pipe(delay(waitTime))
-        })
-    );
+    return mergeMap(val => {
+        let waitTime = Math.floor(initialInterval * Math.exp(lambda * counter++));
+        waitTime = Math.max(waitTime, initialInterval);
+        waitTime = Math.min(waitTime, maxInterval);
+        // console.log("decay time", waitTime);
+        return of(val).pipe(delay(waitTime))
+    });
 }
diff --git a/client/src/utils/observable/monitorXHR.js b/client/src/utils/observable/monitorXHR.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..74c2128ed6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/utils/observable/monitorXHR.js
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+import { defer, Subject } from "rxjs";
+import { filter, finalize, share } from "rxjs/operators";
+
+// global XHR request feed, emits every time xhr fires
+// prettier-ignore
+const xhr$ = defer(() => {
+    const request$ = new Subject();
+
+    // patch
+    const originalOpen = XMLHttpRequest.prototype.open;
+    XMLHttpRequest.prototype.open = function (method, url) {
+        request$.next({ method, url });
+        return originalOpen.apply(this, arguments);
+    };
+
+    return request$.pipe(
+        // un-patch after all subscribers have left
+        finalize(() => {
+            XMLHttpRequest.prototype.open = originalOpen;
+        })
+    );
+}).pipe(
+    share()
+);
+
+/**
+ * Watch outgong ajax calls for any of the indicated methods, filter to any of the provided route regexes
+ *
+ * @param {Object} cfg  Configure methods and routes to monitor
+ * @return {Observable} Observable that emits every time a matching outgoing request happens
+ */
+export const monitorXHR = (cfg = {}) => {
+    return xhr$.pipe(filter(matchRoutes(cfg)));
+};
+
+// matches incoming method/url against config
+export const matchRoutes = (cfg = {}) => ({ method, url }) => {
+    const { methods = ["GET", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE"], routes = [], exclude = [] } = cfg;
+
+    // match fun compares route def to current url
+    const matcher = matchUrlToRoute(url);
+
+    if (!methods.includes(method)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+    if (exclude.length && exclude.find(matcher)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+    if (routes.length) {
+        const routeMatch = routes.find(matcher);
+        return !!routeMatch;
+    }
+    return false;
+};
+
+const matchUrlToRoute = (url) => (rt) => {
+    let result = false;
+    if (rt instanceof RegExp) {
+        result = url.match(rt);
+    } else {
+        // simple matcher
+        result = url.includes(rt);
+    }
+    return result;
+};
diff --git a/client/src/utils/observable/monitorXHR.test.js b/client/src/utils/observable/monitorXHR.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fd8274e1240
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/utils/observable/monitorXHR.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+import { matchRoutes, monitorXHR } from "./monitorXHR";
+
+describe("monitorXhr", () => {
+    describe("monitorXHR", () => {
+        it("should import", () => {
+            expect(monitorXHR).toBeInstanceOf(Function);
+        });
+    });
+
+    // request matcher, XHR object emits objects of form { method, url } which get matched to a set
+    // of routes of interest
+
+    describe("matchRoutes", () => {
+        let matcher;
+
+        beforeEach(() => {
+            matcher = matchRoutes({ routes: ["api/foo"] });
+        });
+
+        it("matcher should be a function", () => {
+            expect(matcher).toBeInstanceOf(Function);
+        });
+
+        it("should recognize an exact route", () => {
+            const testPacket = { method: "POST", url: "api/foo" };
+            expect(matcher(testPacket)).toBe(true);
+        });
+
+        it("should recognize a subroute", () => {
+            const testPacket = { method: "POST", url: "api/foo/123" };
+            expect(matcher(testPacket)).toBe(true);
+        });
+
+        it("should recognize a subroute with some query params", () => {
+            const testPacket = { method: "POST", url: "api/foo/123?foo=bar" };
+            expect(matcher(testPacket)).toBe(true);
+        });
+
+        it("should not match unwatched urls", () => {
+            const testPacket = { method: "POST", url: "api/notinthelist" };
+            expect(matcher(testPacket)).toBe(false);
+        });
+
+        it("should not match unwatched methods", () => {
+            const testPacket = { method: "GET", url: "api/notinthelist" };
+            expect(matcher(testPacket)).toBe(false);
+        });
+    });
+
+    describe("matchRoutes: general regex", () => {
+        it("should match foo or bar", () => {
+            const matcher = matchRoutes({
+                routes: [/api\/(foo|bar)/gi],
+            });
+
+            const fooTest = { method: "POST", url: "api/foo/asdfasdf" };
+            expect(matcher(fooTest)).toBe(true);
+            const barTest = { method: "POST", url: "api/bar/asdfasdf" };
+            expect(matcher(barTest)).toBe(true);
+            const blechTest = { method: "POST", url: "api/blech/asdfasdf" };
+            expect(matcher(blechTest)).toBe(false);
+        });
+    });
+
+    describe("matchRoutes: excludes", () => {
+        const matcher = matchRoutes({
+            routes: ["api/histories"],
+            exclude: ["api/histories/ABC"],
+        });
+
+        // should exclude urls containing the restricted ID
+        it("should exclude history routes with id=ABC", () => {
+            const testRoute = { method: "POST", url: "api/histories/ABC" };
+            expect(matcher(testRoute)).toBe(false);
+            const testRouteWithParams = { method: "POST", url: "api/histories/ABC?hoohah=123" };
+            expect(matcher(testRouteWithParams)).toBe(false);
+        });
+
+        // should pass similar routes with different ids
+        it("should match other history routes", () => {
+            const testRoute = { method: "POST", url: "api/histories/DEF" };
+            expect(matcher(testRoute)).toBe(true);
+            const testRouteWithParams = { method: "POST", url: "api/histories/DEF?foo=sadfasd" };
+            expect(matcher(testRouteWithParams)).toBe(true);
+        });
+    });
+});