diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index b609591..0812781 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ go 1.22.3
 require (
 	github.com/gin-contrib/cors v1.7.2
 	github.com/gin-gonic/gin v1.10.0
+	github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql v1.8.1
 )
 
 require (
+	filippo.io/edwards25519 v1.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/bytedance/sonic v1.11.7 // indirect
 	github.com/bytedance/sonic/loader v0.1.1 // indirect
 	github.com/cloudwego/base64x v0.1.4 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 4df5d38..3b39290 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+filippo.io/edwards25519 v1.1.0 h1:FNf4tywRC1HmFuKW5xopWpigGjJKiJSV0Cqo0cJWDaA=
+filippo.io/edwards25519 v1.1.0/go.mod h1:BxyFTGdWcka3PhytdK4V28tE5sGfRvvvRV7EaN4VDT4=
 github.com/bytedance/sonic v1.11.7 h1:k/l9p1hZpNIMJSk37wL9ltkcpqLfIho1vYthi4xT2t4=
 github.com/bytedance/sonic v1.11.7/go.mod h1:LysEHSvpvDySVdC2f87zGWf6CIKJcAvqab1ZaiQtds4=
 github.com/bytedance/sonic/loader v0.1.1 h1:c+e5Pt1k/cy5wMveRDyk2X4B9hF4g7an8N3zCYjJFNM=
@@ -26,6 +28,8 @@ github.com/go-playground/universal-translator v0.18.1 h1:Bcnm0ZwsGyWbCzImXv+pAJn
 github.com/go-playground/universal-translator v0.18.1/go.mod h1:xekY+UJKNuX9WP91TpwSH2VMlDf28Uj24BCp08ZFTUY=
 github.com/go-playground/validator/v10 v10.20.0 h1:K9ISHbSaI0lyB2eWMPJo+kOS/FBExVwjEviJTixqxL8=
 github.com/go-playground/validator/v10 v10.20.0/go.mod h1:dbuPbCMFw/DrkbEynArYaCwl3amGuJotoKCe95atGMM=
+github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql v1.8.1 h1:LedoTUt/eveggdHS9qUFC1EFSa8bU2+1pZjSRpvNJ1Y=
+github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql v1.8.1/go.mod h1:wEBSXgmK//2ZFJyE+qWnIsVGmvmEKlqwuVSjsCm7DZg=
 github.com/goccy/go-json v0.10.3 h1:KZ5WoDbxAIgm2HNbYckL0se1fHD6rz5j4ywS6ebzDqA=
 github.com/goccy/go-json v0.10.3/go.mod h1:oq7eo15ShAhp70Anwd5lgX2pLfOS3QCiwU/PULtXL6M=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.5 h1:Khx7svrCpmxxtHBq5j2mp/xVjsi8hQMfNLvJFAlrGgU=
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 628f36b..538631c 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -1,13 +1,41 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"database/sql"
+	"fmt"
+	"log"
 	"net/http"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql"
 
 	"github.com/gin-contrib/cors"
 	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
 )
 
+var db *sql.DB
+
 func main() {
+	cfg := mysql.Config{
+		User:   os.Getenv("DBUSER"),
+		Passwd: os.Getenv("DBPASS"),
+		Net:    "tcp",
+		Addr:   "127.0.0.1:3306",
+		DBName: "emojis",
+	}
+	// Get a database handle.
+	var err error
+	db, err = sql.Open("mysql", cfg.FormatDSN())
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	pingErr := db.Ping()
+	if pingErr != nil {
+		log.Fatal(pingErr)
+	}
+	fmt.Println("Connected!")
+
 	r := gin.Default()
 	r.LoadHTMLGlob("templates/*")
 
@@ -17,11 +45,35 @@ func main() {
 	r.Use(cors.New(corsConfig))
 
 	r.GET("/forms/emoji", func(c *gin.Context) {
-		c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "emoji_form.tmpl", gin.H{})
+		c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "emoji_form.tmpl", gin.H{
+			"postId": c.Query("postId"),
+		})
 	})
 
 	r.POST("/forms/emoji/post", func(c *gin.Context) {
-		c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "emoji_form.tmpl", gin.H{})
+		postID := c.PostForm("postId")
+		emoji := c.PostForm("emojiInput")
+
+		if postID == "" || emoji == "" {
+			c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "emoji_form.tmpl", gin.H{"error": "missing parameters", "postId": postID})
+			return
+		}
+
+		_, err := db.Exec("INSERT INTO emoji_clicks (post_id, emoji) VALUES (?, ?)", postID, emoji)
+		if err != nil {
+			c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "emoji_form.tmpl", gin.H{"error": "error writing to database", "postId": postID})
+			return
+		}
+
+		var totalCount int
+
+		err = db.QueryRow("SELECT COUNT(*) AS total_count FROM emoji_clicks WHERE post_id = ?;", postID).Scan(&totalCount)
+		if err != nil {
+			c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "emoji_form.tmpl", gin.H{"error": "error writing to database", "postId": postID})
+			return
+		}
+
+		c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "emoji_form.tmpl", gin.H{"postId": postID, "thumbsUpCount": totalCount})
 	})
 
 	r.Run(":8000")
diff --git a/schema.sql b/schema.sql
index e151ae9..4743729 100644
--- a/schema.sql
+++ b/schema.sql
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 -- schema.sql
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS emoji_clicks (
-    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
+    id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
     post_id TEXT NOT NULL,
     emoji TEXT NOT NULL,
     created_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
diff --git a/templates/emoji_form.tmpl b/templates/emoji_form.tmpl
index 94cb920..6ac2f0a 100644
--- a/templates/emoji_form.tmpl
+++ b/templates/emoji_form.tmpl
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 <form hx-post="http://localhost:8000/forms/emoji/post" hx-swap="outerHTML">
-<button name="emojiInput" value="👍" type="submit">👍</button>
-<button name="emojiInput" value="👎" type="submit">👎</button>
-<button name="emojiInput" value="😀" type="submit">😀</button>
-<button name="emojiInput" value="😑" type="submit">😑</button>
-<button name="emojiInput" value="🤢" type="submit">🤢</button>
-<button name="emojiInput" value="👀" type="submit">👀</button>
+<input type="hidden" name="postId" value="{{.postId}}">
+<button name="emojiInput" value="👍" type="submit">👍 {{.thumbsUpCount}}</button>
 </form>
-
+<p>{{.error}}</p>