We explore how holographic techniques pertain to a de Sitter universe. Such a geometry may be relevant to our own universe, both during the early inflationary era as well as the current Lambda-dominated phase. To understand quantum aspects of this spacetime, we introduce certain mathematically controlled theories. The problem is considered both from the perspective of a `global' observer, who can see a large part of the spatial slice at late times, and that of a `local' observer, who is shrouded by the presence of a cosmological horizon.