NOTE: Text only. This is not audio yet. Next brick is TTS. Do not treat this file as a finished podcast.

Title: Convert Google Sheets into a REST API
Channel: Learn Google Sheets & Excel Spreadsheets
Based only on the approved student summary and timestamps.

HOST A: Welcome back. Today we are reviewing a short lesson called Convert Google Sheets into a REST API, from the channel Learn Google Sheets and Excel Spreadsheets.

HOST B: And the promise is simple. You can keep a Google Sheet private, then still let a web form or another service read and write data. No “anyone with the link.” No handing the file to a third party.

HOST A: Who is this for?

HOST B: Spreadsheet people, developers, and no-code builders who want a sheet to act like a small backend. Think of it as a database you already know how to use.

HOST A: The demo is a workout log. At about one minute thirteen they set up two tabs. WORKOUTS holds each entry. SUMMARY totals pushups with a SUM of the workouts column.

HOST B: Then at one fifty-three they open Apps Script and sketch two special function names: doGet and doPost. Those are the web-app hooks.

HOST A: The write path comes first. From two twenty-four they build doPost. It reads URL parameters — count and type — from e.parameter, inserts a new row at the top of WORKOUTS, and writes those values.

HOST B: Around four forty-four they return an HTTP 200 so the caller knows the write worked. They do that with ContentService.createTextOutput, passing 200.

HOST A: Deploy is at five eighteen. Web app. Execute as Me. Who has access: Anyone. Authorize once. That combination is how the script can touch your private sheet while the public URL stays usable from a form or a tester.

HOST B: They test POST in Postman at five fifty-two. First try fails. The timestamp at seven twenty-two is the fix: the method name. insertRowsBefore was wrong. insertRowBefore is the one that matches a single new row.

HOST A: That is also the deployment lesson. Change the code, you need a new web-app deployment and a fresh URL. The old URL still points at the old version.

HOST B: After the write works, they flip to reading. Eight thirty-one is doGet. It opens the SUMMARY sheet, reads cell B1 with getValue, and returns that number as plain text. Same ContentService helper, different payload.

HOST A: So POST adds a workout. GET answers “how many pushups so far.”

HOST B: Then they show two ways to use it. At ten thirteen, a completely different Google account pulls the live total with IMPORTDATA pointed at the GET URL. The sheet on the other account does not need to be shared with the first one.

HOST A: And at eleven twenty they build a public form on Carrd. Custom form, send to URL, method POST. The field ID for the number is count. Type can be a fixed value, like pushups, so it matches the script parameters.

HOST B: Twelve forty-three they submit from that form and the new row lands in WORKOUTS. The sheet itself stays restricted. The API is what is on the web.

HOST A: Wrap-up is thirteen sixteen. Same two functions, a little code, a sheet that stays private, and a URL you can call from a tester, another spreadsheet, or a no-code form.

HOST B: If you only remember a few things: keep the file private; use doPost to write and doGet to read; deploy as you, with access set to anyone; redeploy after every code change; match form field IDs to parameter names.

HOST A: That is the lesson. Text script only — no audio file in this brick. When TTS is ready, this is the spoken pass.

HOST B: Thanks for listening to the review. Go watch the video if you want the clicks, then come back to these beats.