📦 grud: GitHub as database

GitHub as a database with grud. I recently published a tiny javascript package 📦 called grud, with which you can create a simple JSON data store in GitHub and perform read, update & delete operations against the same.

Install grud

You can install it with the below command from your terminal.

npm install grud

Working with internal tools

grud came out of the deepest frustration I often run into while working on internal tools. When working as a consultant in big enterprises, you do not have the luxury to use any tools out there in the public domain for your datastore need, e.g. firebase/mongo-atlas, or have enterprise alternatives provisioned for your internal tooling demand.
This is because projects are always considered crucial as they drive revenue directly. However, if internal tools can save you many engineering hours, they should be seen and treated as just as valuable as a revenue-generating product.

Need for datastore

For a significant part of my internal tooling work, I go with react single-page application hosted onto GitHub pages. It’s easy to scaffold and deploy in the publicly accessible URL. Also, I do not have to raise a ticket and wait for the approval. However, as I’ve mentioned above, when there is a need for a database/datastore, you will hit the brick wall. It’s pretty common to lose your passion & work in service-now approval saga.

Host your own database (HYODB)

So the only option I perceive in these circumstances is to host your DB/datastore on GitHub itself. So the grud.

grud is ideal for small projects, making prototypes or hackathons. Check it out at https://npmjs.com/package/grud. I’d greatly appreciate it if you can review and share your feedback with me.