Blog · August 18, 2026 · Rich Chetwynd
How to turn a Google Sheet into an app
That spreadsheet doing a job it was never built for? Here's how to turn a Google Sheet into a real app — with a database, a login, and a shareable link — by chatting with AI.
Short answer: Connect an AI assistant to a host like Croft, hand it the sheet — a link, an export, or just a description of what it does — and ask it to turn it into an app. A minute later it’s a real app on your own server, with a proper database and a login, ready to share with your team.
Spreadsheets are brilliant right up until they aren’t: two people edit at once, formulas break, and nobody’s sure which copy is current. When a sheet has become a system — a tracker, a calculator, an intake form — it wants to be an app.
How to do it
- Connect an assistant to your croft (Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok). How to connect →
- Describe the sheet as an app. “Turn this stocktake sheet into an app: add items, adjust quantities, flag anything low.” Your assistant recreates the logic — and improves on it.
- Invite your people. It’s live at a URL, behind your login. They sign in once and use it.
Why the app beats the sheet
The app has one source of truth (no more “which version?”), a real database so entries are saved for everyone, and per-person access so the right people see the right things. Ask for changes any time and your assistant edits it.
Here’s the same idea, worked through with a pricing spreadsheet →
Stake out your croft.
Your team's first app could be live before lunch.
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