Airtable

Airtable API

Manage Airtable bases, tables, and records via REST API.

Setup

1. Get API key: https://airtable.com/create/tokens
2. Create token with scopes: data.records:read, data.records:write
3. Store token:

mkdir -p ~/.config/airtable
echo "patXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" > ~/.config/airtable/api_key

4. Find Base ID: Open base → Help → API documentation (starts with app)

List Records

AIRTABLE_KEY=$(cat ~/.config/airtable/api_key)
BASE_ID="appXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
TABLE_NAME="Table%20Name"  # URL-encoded

curl -s "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" | jq '.records'

Get Single Record

RECORD_ID="recXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

curl -s "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}/${RECORD_ID}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" | jq

Create Record

curl -s -X POST "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "records": [{
      "fields": {
        "Name": "New Item",
        "Status": "Todo",
        "Notes": "Created via API"
      }
    }]
  }' | jq

Create Multiple Records

curl -s -X POST "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "records": [
      {"fields": {"Name": "Item 1", "Status": "Todo"}},
      {"fields": {"Name": "Item 2", "Status": "Done"}}
    ]
  }'

Max 10 records per request.

Update Record

curl -s -X PATCH "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}/${RECORD_ID}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "fields": {
      "Status": "Done",
      "Notes": "Updated via API"
    }
  }' | jq

PATCH = partial update, PUT = replace all fields

Delete Record

curl -s -X DELETE "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}/${RECORD_ID}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" | jq

Filter Records

# filterByFormula parameter (URL-encoded)
FORMULA="Status%3D%27Todo%27"  # Status='Todo'

curl -s "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}?filterByFormula=${FORMULA}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" | jq '.records'

Common formulas:

• {Status}='Done' - Exact match
• FIND('keyword', {Notes}) - Contains text
• {Date} >= TODAY() - Date comparison
• AND({Status}='Active', {Priority}='High') - Multiple conditions

Sort Records

curl -s "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}?sort%5B0%5D%5Bfield%5D=Created&sort%5B0%5D%5Bdirection%5D=desc" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" | jq '.records'

Pagination

# First page
RESPONSE=$(curl -s "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}?pageSize=100" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}")

OFFSET=$(echo $RESPONSE | jq -r '.offset // empty')

# Next page (if offset exists)
if [ -n "$OFFSET" ]; then
  curl -s "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}?pageSize=100&offset=${OFFSET}" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}"
fi

Select Specific Fields

curl -s "https://api.airtable.com/v0/${BASE_ID}/${TABLE_NAME}?fields%5B%5D=Name&fields%5B%5D=Status" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AIRTABLE_KEY}" | jq '.records'

Field Types

• Text: "value"
• Number: 123
• Checkbox: true / false
• Date: "2024-01-15"
• Single Select: "Option Name"
• Multi Select: ["Option 1", "Option 2"]
• Linked Record: ["recXXX", "recYYY"]
• Attachment: [{"url": "https://..."}]

Rate Limits

• 5 requests per second per base
• Use batch operations (10 records max) to reduce calls