# If Observable authenticates via GitHub, can I easily write to it?

**URL:** <https://talk.observablehq.com/t/if-observable-authenticates-via-github-can-i-easily-write-to-it/2139>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [July 11, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/if-observable-authenticates-via-github-can-i-easily-write-to-it/2139 "2019-07-11T12:24:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 16

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**Author:** ![aaronkyle](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/aaronkyle/32/8106_2.png) [@aaronkyle](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/aaronkyle)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/if-observable-authenticates-via-github-can-i-easily-write-to-it/2139/16 "2019-07-11T19:59:42Z")

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> [@aaronkyle](#):
>
> if it ever loads…

In case that page doesn’t load… Here are a couple of more links to show you where I am going:

1. [a super simple notebook about naming cases](https://observablehq.com/d/dae8262e1ae1c8aa?collection=@aaronkyle/cao) - the idea here is the same as the CSV-driven input page (with without CSV). The idea is that data would be stored in some database, etc, and re-presented as pre-populated input fields. Currently I am only demonstrating the concept, but don’t have a way to ‘save’ the change from the UI (without editing the code, that is).

2. [a mock UI with toggle buttons to edit](https://cao-ombudsman.s3.amazonaws.com/sandbox/caoadmin_project-data-tracker_test.html) - this is how I’m envisioning a page that would allow users to edit information about a case (note that only the active ‘overview’ tab is modeling the behaviors I want - with buttons to the right).

… To be clear - I don’t really _need_ to do this with GitHub (and given how much more work it involves than I was hoping, I probably I won’t). To step back a bit: I am trying to come up with a way to manage information that is totally transparent (and ideally free for anyone to replicate / use). I am enjoying learning more about JS and availing of all that Observable has to offer to work out proofs-of-concept for user interfaces, but I don’t have any knowledge of how one goes about connecting UIs to databases, etc. Where I am currently at is to save and store this information in .csv files, which I manage in Excel… but this quickly gets tedious, so I am seeking a better way.

I expect there are tools in the Observable pipeline that will help me with this, like the [promised Google Drive connector](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/how-does-private-data-hosting-work-for-teams/1853/6), which I anticipate will allow me to use Google Sheets as the CSV / TSV data store, as well as the [database client](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/were-beta-testing-database-clients/2075) announced by Visnu. But databases still scare me, and using GitHub as a database seems like a reasonable, friendly idea. 😉

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