airtable

Mirage’s built-in client for the Airtable Web API. The Airtable mount reads bases as files; a record write is not a file write, so writes go through this CLI, which also reaches what a file cannot: server-side filters, one record by id, and comments. The command tree is discoverable with airtable --help.

Install

import { AIRTABLE } from '@struktoai/mirage-core'
import { AirtableVFS, MountMode, Workspace } from '@struktoai/mirage-node'

const config = { token: process.env.AIRTABLE_TOKEN! }
const ws = new Workspace({ '/airtable': new AirtableVFS(config) }, { mode: MountMode.READ })
ws.registerCli('airtable', AIRTABLE, config)

The CLI takes the mount’s own config: token, baseIds, baseUrl, maxReadRecords and requestsPerSecond. Two installs under different names are two accounts. In YAML, the same install rides the clis: section; see the CLI overview. Reads need the mount’s scopes (data.records:read, schema.bases:read); writes add data.records:write, and comments data.recordComments:read and data.recordComments:write. See Airtable Setup.

Ids

Every verb below a base names it with --base and its table with --table. Take the ids from the mount’s directory names, after the last __, and a record’s from its record_id:

/airtable/bases/Product_Roadmap__appRoadmapBase001/            --base appRoadmapBase001
/airtable/bases/.../Features__tblFeatures000001/records.jsonl  --table tblFeatures000001
{"record_id": "recFeat0000000003", ...}                        RECORD

--table and table get also take the table’s name.

Reads

airtable base list
airtable base get appRoadmapBase001
airtable table get --base appRoadmapBase001 Features
airtable record list --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001 --formula "{Status} = 'Done'"
airtable record list --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001 --view "Done" --max-records 50
airtable record get --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001 recFeat0000000003
airtable comment list --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001 recFeat0000000001

Verb	Prints
`base list`	JSON array of `{base_id, base_name, permission_level}`, filtered by `base_ids`
`base get BASE`	the mount’s `base.json`
`table get --base B TABLE`	the mount’s `table.json`
`record list`	JSONL, one `records.jsonl` line per record
`record get RECORD`	one `records.jsonl` line
`comment list RECORD`	JSON array of `{comment_id, author_id, author_email, author_name, text, created_time, last_updated_time}`, newest first

--formula is Airtable’s filterByFormula and --view takes a view id or name, so both filter on the server. record list is bounded like the mount: without --max-records it asks for max_read_records + 1 records and, if that many come back, fails (exit 1) rather than paging the rest of the table. An explicit --max-records N is honored as asked.

Writes

airtable record create --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001 --fields '{"Name": "Search"}'
airtable record update --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001 recFeat0000000003 --fields '{"Status": "Done"}'
airtable record delete --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001 recFeat0000000003 recFeat0000000004
airtable comment add --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001 recFeat0000000003 --text "Ship it"

Without that single-record form, record create, update and delete read JSONL from stdin, one records.jsonl line per record, so a mount read edited with jq pipes straight back:

jq -c 'select(.fields.Status == "Todo") | .fields.Status = "Done"' \
  /airtable/bases/Product_Roadmap__appRoadmapBase001/Features__tblFeatures000001/records.jsonl \
  | airtable record update --base appRoadmapBase001 --table tblFeatures000001

Verb	A stdin line needs	Prints
`record create`	`fields` (`record_id` and `created_time` are ignored, so lines copy into another table)	the created records, JSONL
`record update`	`record_id` and `fields`	the updated records, JSONL
`record delete`	`record_id`	`{"record_id": ..., "deleted": true}` per record

A line may hold only record_id, created_time and fields. Any other key, a line that is not an object, or a fields that is not an object is a usage error naming the 1-based line, and every line is checked before the first request.
Computed fields (formula, rollup, lookup, count, autonumber, created and modified time or by, button, AI text, sync source) are dropped from a stdin line, because a mount line carries them and Airtable refuses a write to one. --fields is sent as given.
Writes go ten records to a request, Airtable’s limit. update is a PATCH, so a field a line leaves out keeps its value. If a later request fails, the records the earlier ones wrote are still printed, with the error on stderr and exit 1.
--typecast lets Airtable convert string values to the field types.
comment add takes --text or the text on stdin, with one trailing newline stripped: echo "Ship it" | airtable comment add ... RECORD.

Errors

Exit	When
`1`	an API error (`airtable record get: Airtable API error (GET /app.../tbl.../rec...): HTTP 403: INVALID_PERMISSIONS_OR_MODEL_NOT_FOUND: ...`, Airtable’s answer for a record that does not exist), a `record list` past the cap
`1`	a partial write: the records that landed on stdout, and the error that stopped the rest on stderr without a prefix, `Airtable API error (POST ...): ...`
`1`	a base outside `base_ids`: `airtable <verb>: <base-id>: Permission denied`, refused before any request
`2`	a usage error: a missing flag or operand, malformed `--fields`, or a bad stdin line (`stdin line 2: unknown key "id"`)

The airtable <verb>: prefix is the head word the CLI was installed under, so a second install under another name refuses in that name. A refusal the verb decides itself (bad --fields, a bad stdin line) prints its message alone, the way the gh and ntn CLIs do; one the argument parser decides (a missing required flag) keeps the parser’s prefix and --help hint. Requests are paced per base at requests_per_second. A read retries a 429, 502 or 503; a write retries only a 429 for the rate limit, after Airtable’s 30 second penalty, since a write answered 502 or 503 may have landed.

Getting Started

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Ids

Reads

Writes

Errors

​Install

​Ids

​Reads

​Writes

​Errors

Install

Ids

Reads

Writes

Errors