🚀 Launching xlsDB: Turn Google Sheets into Live APIs in Minutes

What if your backend was as simple as a Google Sheet?
No database.
No infrastructure.
No complex setup.
Meet xlsDB — a lightweight backend service that lets you use Google Sheets as a database, exposed via clean, secure APIs.

let the API schema talk? check it out -- here

💡 Why xlsDB?

We’ve all been there:

• You’re building a quick MVP or internal tool.
• You don’t want to set up Postgres or Firebase.
• You need your team to be able to view/edit data right now.

Google Sheets already does 80% of what we need:
✅ Easy data editing
✅ History and versioning
✅ Access control
✅ Familiar UI
So why not just turn your Sheet into an API?
That’s exactly what xlsDB does.

⚙️ What is xlsDB?

xlsDB is a hosted service that exposes your Google Sheet as a set of REST APIs.

• 🔐 Authenticated via Google Service Accounts
• 📄 Each Sheet tab = a resource
• 📦 Supports full CRUD operations
• 📈 Built for small apps, MVPs, internal tools
• 🧩 You can build your own wrappers or use it directly with fetch() / axios

No libraries. No SDKs. Just APIs.
You bring the spreadsheet, and xlsDB handles the rest.

🧠 How It Works

1. Create a Google Sheet
   • Set up your columns; the headers in the top row will serve as column names. Adding a new column is equivalent to adding a header to the top row of the sheet.
2. Grab essential credtials
   • How to get the Spreadsheet Id: The Spreadsheet Id is found in the URL of your Google Sheet.
     For example: `https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/{your-speadsheetid}/edit...`
   • How to get the Client Email and Private Key:
     1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
     2. Create a new project or select an existing one.
     3. Enable the "Google Sheets API".
     4. Create a service account (under "IAM & Admin" > "Service accounts").
     5. Download the JSON key file. This file contains your client email and private key.

3. Send requests to xlsDB endpoints

   when your columns are -- age, name & email -- and you want to add values

   • Example:

     POST /xlsDB/add HTTP/1.1
      Host: xls-db.onrender.com
      accept: application/json
      Content-Type: application/json
      Content-Length: 276
      
      {
          "values": {
              "name": "Alice Jane",
              "age": 12,
              "email": "alicejane69@gmail.com"
          },
          "sheetId": "{your-spreadsheetid}",
          "serviceClientEmail": "{your-service-account-client-email}",
          "servicePrivateKey": "{your-service-account-private-key}"
      }
     

   • Example (curl):

     curl --location 'https://xls-db.onrender.com/xlsDB/add' \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data-raw '{
     "values": {
     "name": "Alice Jane",
     "age": 12,
     "email": "alicejane69@gmail.com"
     },
     "sheetId": "{your-sheetid}",
     "serviceClientEmail": "{your-service-account-client-email}",
     "servicePrivateKey": "{your-service-account-private-key}"
     }'
     

   And don't worry, we don't store your private keys or anything creepy like that, in fact we dont have a database lol

✅ That’s it. Your data is now live and editable via REST.

🎯 Who Is This For?

• 🧪 Indie hackers who want to ship faster
• 🛠️ Startup teams building quick internal tools
• 🧰 No-code/low-code builders who just need API glue

🆚 Supabase, Firebase? Why Not Those?

They’re great. But here’s the thing:

Use xlsDB when you need to move fast and don’t want infra overhead.

⚠️ What It’s Not

• Not meant for high-concurrency or transactional workloads
• Not a relational database replacement
• Not a long-term data warehouse solution
  Think MVPs. Think experiments. Think fast.

💬 Wrapping Up

xlsDB is designed for builders who value speed, simplicity, and flexibility.
If you can structure your data in a Google Sheet, you can now instantly expose it to your apps via REST — without writing a backend.

It’s backend-as-a-sheet.
It’s JSON over Google Sheets.
It’s ridiculously simple.

👉 Try it now (API docs)

🙌 Got Feedback?

xlsDB is an experiment by Ritvik Mahajan, and is flawed in many ways. I’m actively working on improving it, and would love your feedback.

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