The Scenario
You are a data engineering manager at a healthcare startup. Your production Neon database holds real patient records. Ten developers need to run queries and test features against realistic data without touching production.
The solution is anonymized branches: copies of the production branch with sensitive fields masked. The list of developers and their assigned project IDs is in a Google Sheet. You need ten anonymized branch environments created before the sprint starts Monday.
The bad version of the next two days:
- Figure out the right Neon branching approach for anonymization
- Create branch one manually in the dashboard
- Write and run the masking script by hand on branch one
- Verify the masking worked
- Repeat for developer two through ten
- Someone forgets to mask a column in branch six
- You spend Monday morning fixing the data instead of opening the sprint.
The fast version is one prompt.
The Easy Way: One Prompt in SheetXAI
SheetXAI reads the developer list and creates the anonymized branches through the Neon integration, so you are not running the branch creation workflow ten separate times.
Open the SheetXAI sidebar and type:
For each row in my sheet with a project_id in column A and developer name in column B, create an anonymized Neon branch from production data and write the new branch ID and endpoint hostname into columns C and D.
SheetXAI iterates through the rows, creates each branch, and writes the branch IDs and endpoint hostnames back to the sheet. Each developer's environment is documented in the tracker before the sprint begins.
What You Get
A complete developer environment tracker with:
- Column C — branch ID for each anonymized environment
- Column D — endpoint hostname the developer connects to
- Consistent process — each branch is created the same way, no manual variation between developers
Every developer's connection target is in the sheet, so the platform team knows exactly which environment is whose.
What If the Data Is Not Quite Ready
Developer environment requests often come in with incomplete information. SheetXAI fills gaps and creates branches in the same prompt.
When the project IDs in the sheet are project names, not IDs
Your developers filled in the project name column, not the project ID. You need to resolve them before branching.
For each row in my sheet with a project name in column A and developer name in column B, look up the matching Neon project ID by name. Write the project ID into column A (replacing the name), create an anonymized branch, and write the branch ID and endpoint hostname into columns C and D.
When some developers only need read access, not a full branch
Some developers on the list only need to run SELECT queries and do not need a full writable branch.
For rows where column C says 'read-only', create a Neon branch with a read-only role for that developer. For all other rows, create a standard branch. Write the branch ID and the appropriate connection string into columns D and E.
When the sheet includes developers who already have a branch from last sprint
Column C already has branch IDs for some developers from last sprint's environment. You only want to create branches for the new ones.
Skip any row where column C already has a value. For the remaining rows, create an anonymized Neon branch and write the new branch ID and endpoint hostname into columns C and D.
When you need the full environment setup documented in one pass
You want to create the branches, capture the credentials, and write a summary row for the platform team in one operation.
For each row in my sheet with a project_id in column A and developer name in column B, create an anonymized Neon branch. Write the branch ID into column C, the endpoint hostname into column D, and the masked data status into column E. When all rows are done, write a summary into cell G1 showing how many branches were created and the total count of developers who now have environments.
The pattern: the sheet is both the input manifest and the output tracker. You run one prompt and both sides are complete.
Try It
Get the 7-day free trial of SheetXAI and open a developer list sheet with project IDs, then ask it to create the anonymized Neon branches. The Neon integration is included in every plan. For related infrastructure workflows, see how to bulk-create Neon feature branches from a sheet or the Neon in Google Sheets overview.