# Airtable (slim)

> Airtable is a hosted database of typed records organised in bases, tables and views. Agents reach it through a REST Web API and an official hosted MCP server, using personal access tokens or OAuth.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/airtable.md (~7,800 tokens) · this version ~1,880 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/airtable.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/airtable
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

**BB · 70.9/100 · rank #118 of 629 · #3 in Spreadsheets & operational tables · agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Tokens are limited by scope and by base, and the official MCP server at mcp.airtable.com covers records, schema, interfaces and automations in 40 tools. The REST API allows 5 requests a second per base with a 30-second lockout after a 429, writes take 10 records a call, and the Free plan stops at 1,000 calls a month.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: Formagrid Inc (Airtable) · category: Spreadsheets & operational tables · legal entity: Formagrid Inc (doing business as Airtable) · provenance 100/100
- Endpoint: `https://api.airtable.com` (HTTP, Streamable HTTP)
- Auth: OAuth or key · pricing: Freemium · x402: no · licence: Proprietary service under Airtable's Terms of Service and Developer Terms. The airtable.js client and the MCP CLI on GitHub are MIT
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Surfaces graded: REST Web API at https://api.airtable.com/v0 and the official hosted MCP server at https://mcp.airtable.com/mcp
- Free tier: Free plan, 1,000 API calls a month per workspace, 1,000 records per base, 1 GB of attachments per base, up to 5 editors
- Rate limits: 5 requests a second per base, 50 a second per user or service account across personal access tokens. A 429 blocks requests for 30 seconds (vendor's figures)
- Batch size: Up to 10 records per create, update or delete request, 100 records per list page, 10,000 CSV rows per Sync API request
- Auth and scopes: Personal access tokens or OAuth with PKCE. Basic scopes include data.records:read, data.records:write, schema.bases:read, schema.bases:write, data.recordComments:read and write, workspacesAndBases:read and webhook:manage. Each token is also limited to chosen bases or workspaces
- Read and write: Records (list, get, create, update, upsert, delete), comments, attachments, tables and fields (create and update), base schema, views, webhooks
- Filtering: `filterByFormula`, `sort`, `view`, `fields`, `pageSize` and `maxRecords` on list records, with a POST variant for long formulas
- MCP server: Hosted, streamable HTTP, 40 documented tools. OAuth with dynamic client registration or a personal access token. Automations are saved as drafts and stay off until a person turns them on
- Change events: Webhooks on a base, table or view with an HMAC-signed ping and a payload list read by cursor. Token-created webhooks expire after 7 days unless refreshed
- Plan gates: Base data endpoints on every plan except views. SCIM from Business. Audit logs, change events and the Enterprise API on Enterprise Scale
- SDKs: Official airtable.js for JavaScript (v0.12.2, 16 August 2023, MIT). Python, Ruby and .NET clients are community-built. @airtable/mcp-cli v0.2.9 (7 August 2026), marked experimental
- Deprecations: Guidelines aim for 12 months' notice on the Web API and Enterprise API, and Airtable reserves the right to deprecate without notice
- Certifications: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 27701:2019, HIPAA and TX-RAMP Level 2 per the trust page. Bug bounty on HackerOne
- SLA: 99.9 per cent monthly uptime for Enterprise and Enterprise Scale plans, and some Business customers on a master subscription agreement
- Open source: No. The JavaScript client and the MCP CLI are public under MIT
- Prices: Team $20 per seat per month; Business $45 per seat per month

- Scores: Reliability 94, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 73, Agent ergonomics 68, Security & auth 78, Payments & pricing 30, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 49, Transparency & trust 86 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Graded on the REST Web API and the hosted MCP server. · Schema & documentation, No OpenAPI description was found in the reviewed documentation. · Agent ergonomics, The MCP server documents 40 tools with no toolsets or dynamic loading found (5 of 25), while the REST API sizes responses with `fields`… · Security & auth, OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, 60-minute access tokens and rotating 60-day refresh tokens, or personal access tokens, both limited by scope and by bas… · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 found (0). · Maintenance & community, Newest dated release is @airtable/mcp-cli v0.2.9 on 7 August 2026, 62 days before the check. · Transparency & trust, Closed service with published Terms of Service (31 May 2024) and Developer Terms (1 December 2022).
- Sources: 36, open questions: 7, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: sheets.records, sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.formulas
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/airtable.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/airtable.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/airtable from a page on airtable.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/Airtable/airtable-mcp-cli, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Create a personal access token with only the scopes needed and add each base to it. A token with no base added sees nothing
2. Stay under 5 requests a second per base. After a 429, wait 30 seconds before the next call
3. Send writes in batches of 10 records, and use `performUpsert` with `fieldsToMergeOn` so a repeated call updates instead of duplicating
4. Use table and field IDs, not names, and set `returnFieldsByFieldId` so a rename doesn't break the call
5. POST to `/listRecords` when a `filterByFormula` would push the URL past 16,000 characters

## Connect

```bash
npm install -g @airtable/mcp-cli
```

```bash
curl https://api.airtable.com/v0/YOUR_BASE_ID/YOUR_TABLE_ID_OR_NAME -H \
"Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
```

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http airtable https://mcp.airtable.com/mcp
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/airtable

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NocoDB | BB | 75.7 | sheets.records, sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nocodb.min.md |
| Coda (Superhuman Docs) | B | 64.8 | sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.records, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/coda.min.md |
| Baserow | B | 63.6 | sheets.records, sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/baserow.min.md |
| Google Sheets API | BB | 76.3 | sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.formulas, sheets.tables | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-sheets-api.min.md |
| Smartsheet API + MCP | B | 67.6 | sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.records, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smartsheet.min.md |


## Panel reviews (0, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)