# Sheetsu - simplifying Google Sheets usage as a database through API calls?

**URL:** <https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226>\
**Category:** Tools\
**Created:** [July 25, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226 "2018-07-25T19:17:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ninakin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/ninakin/32/33_2.png) [@ninakin](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/ninakin)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/1 "2018-07-25T19:17:20Z")

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I was just looking into writing up a template for project group to use Google Sheets as a database (benefits: auto-populated by Google Forms, can run triggered scripts, has an API to access data, FREE), when I came across a service called Sheetsu that says they make using the Google Sheets API a lot easier. They have a limited free tier… but I noticed they also show the CFA logo: [https://sheetsu.com/pricing](https://sheetsu.com/pricing)

@tdooner do you know if is currently using Sheetsu, how useful it is, and/or whether brigades can get in on it?

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**Author:** ![tdooner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/tdooner/32/3_2.png) [@tdooner](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/tdooner)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/2 "2018-07-25T21:09:18Z")

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> [@ninakin](#):
>
> I noticed they also show the CFA logo

I’m a bit surprised to see our logo there. I’ll ask around and report back.

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**Author:** ![ninakin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/ninakin/32/33_2.png) [@ninakin](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/ninakin)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/3 "2018-07-25T21:24:19Z")

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Me too since I hadn’t heard it mentioned before! Maybe it’s being used by some of CFA’s internal projects?

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**Author:** ![chris](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/chris/32/10_2.png) [@chris](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/chris)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/4 "2018-07-25T23:54:16Z")

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The [original version of Philly Ward Leaders](https://github.com/CodeForPhilly/philly-ward-leaders/tree/c11849c36531c33fe8a59ca199a5056a32965ff1) used [Tabletop.js](https://github.com/jsoma/tabletop) to pull data directly from Google Sheets as a data source and it worked great as a way to stand up the project and compile its data quickly.

It now uses [Contentful](https://www.contentful.com/) to provide a bit more of a structured system

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**Author:** ![ninakin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/ninakin/32/33_2.png) [@ninakin](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/ninakin)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/5 "2018-07-26T00:05:14Z")

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Sweet, I think Tabletop.js is exactly what I’m looking for. I’m trying to figure out what Contentful is and what to compare it to, but their site is a little over the top with all the marketing talk!

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**Author:** ![timwis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/timwis/32/170_2.png) [@timwis](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/timwis)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/6 "2018-07-26T23:15:58Z")

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Hey Nina! Contentful is a “headless cms” - like WordPress but it only worries about the content editing/organising part, not the template rendering. You would build your website separately and have it pull the content from contentful’s API as if it were data. You can do that dynamically with client-side JavaScript or ahead of time, say, as part of a Jekyll site’s build process. There are [other headless CMSes](https://headlesscms.org) too. I’d recommend looking at netlify cms and directus. But contentful works fine. The advantage over Google sheets is that you can create a schema so it’s not as easy to break while editing, and it should be a lot faster than fetching data from Google sheets at each page load. That said, Google sheets as a CMS/DB is handy for quick prototypes and empowers people less familiar with CMSes to maintain the site. Good luck!

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**Author:** ![ninakin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/ninakin/32/33_2.png) [@ninakin](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/ninakin)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/7 "2018-07-26T23:23:29Z")

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Thanks for that info, that helps a lot!

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**Author:** ![carlvlewis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/carlvlewis/32/317_2.png) [@carlvlewis](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/carlvlewis)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/8 "2018-11-27T23:30:13Z")

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An open-source alternative to Sheetsu created by [Jessica Lord](https://jlord.github.io), a former CfA fellow originally from Georgia, is the amazing [Sheetsee.js](http://jlord.us/sheetsee.js/). It actually predates Sheetsu, and I have often wondered whether the Sheetsee people got inspiration for the name from Jessica’s project.

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**Author:** ![Mari](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discourse.codeforamerica.org/mari/32/992_2.png) [@Mari](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/u/Mari)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 7:05am UTC](https://discourse.codeforamerica.org/t/sheetsu-simplifying-google-sheets-usage-as-a-database-through-api-calls/226/9 "2023-07-01T07:05:50Z")

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