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Why this exists

Airtable's public Web API has never exposed some of the most common tasks builders actually need: creating a formula field, tweaking a view's filter set, installing an extension, or validating a formula before it breaks production. The official Airtable MCP server is a thin wrapper over that same REST API, so it inherits every one of those gaps.

airtable-user-mcp is an add-on to the official Airtable MCP, not a replacement. It uses Airtable's own internal API (the one the web UI uses) to cover exactly the surface area the REST API can't reach. Register both servers in your AI client and your assistant gets the full Airtable automation experience — records over HTTP via the official MCP, plus schema, formulas, views, and extensions via this one.

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What airtable-user-mcp adds on top of the official Airtable MCP

This is a coverage map, not a "pick one" decision — the two servers are complementary and designed to run side-by-side.

Capability	Official Airtable MCP	airtable-user-mcp
Total tools	~17	36
Auth model	Personal Access Token or OAuth, per-scope setup	Log in once with your normal Airtable account (SSO/2FA supported)
Transport	HTTP (remote)	stdio (local, private)
Data never leaves your machine	❌ Requests go through mcp.airtable.com	✅ Runs locally against Airtable's API
Schema read (bases, tables, fields, views)	Partial (no view config)	Full — filters, sorts, groups, visibility, row height, descriptions
Create formula fields	❌ UNSUPPORTED_FIELD_TYPE_FOR_CREATE	✅
Create rollup fields	❌	✅
Create lookup / multipleLookupValues fields	❌	✅
Create count fields	❌	✅
Update formula text of an existing field	❌	✅
Validate a formula before applying	❌	✅
Rename / duplicate / safely delete fields	Partial (no duplicate, no dependency summary)	✅ with expectedName guard + dependency preview
Create views (grid/form/kanban/calendar/gallery/gantt/list)	❌ (API has no create-view endpoint)	✅
Set/append view filters (nested AND/OR)	❌	✅
Set view sorts	❌	✅
Set view grouping	❌	✅
Change column order	❌	✅
Show/hide columns in a view	❌	✅
Change row height	❌	✅
Duplicate a view with its full configuration	❌	✅
Extension / block management (install, enable, rename, duplicate, remove)	❌	✅
Create dashboard pages	❌	✅
filterByFormula on record queries	❌ Explicitly disallowed	✅
Destructive-action safety guards	Relies on token scopes	✅ expectedName match, dependency summary, force flag
Batch record create limit	10 / request	Uses the same Airtable limit; no added restriction
VS Code / Cursor / Windsurf / Cline / Amp one-click install	Manual JSON edit per IDE	✅ One click via the companion extension
Formula editor with IntelliSense	❌	✅ (VS Code extension)
Credentials storage	You manage the PAT	OS keychain, auto-refresh
Plan requirement	Airtable plan with API access + token scopes	Any plan you can log into
Price	Free	Free, MIT

Sources: Airtable's official MCP docs, Airtable Web API reference, and the UNSUPPORTED_FIELD_TYPE_FOR_CREATE rollup thread.

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Use both MCPs together

airtable-user-mcp is additive. Register the official Airtable MCP following Airtable's setup guide, then add this one alongside it in the same mcpServers block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "airtable-user-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "airtable-user-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Your MCP client will expose every tool from both servers. The two entries are independent — rename the keys (airtable, airtable-official, airtable-user-mcp, etc.) however makes sense for your workflow.

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What's In This Repo

This monorepo ships two products from one source tree:

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Features

VS Code Extension

• Formula Editor — Syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, beautify / minify for .formula files
• MCP Server — One-click MCP registration for multiple IDEs
• AI Skills — Auto-install Airtable-specific skills, rules, and workflows for AI coding assistants
• Airtable Login — Credentials in OS keychain, browser-based auth with auto-refresh
• Dashboard — React webview with Overview, Setup, and Settings tabs

MCP Server (30 Tools)

Manage Airtable bases with capabilities not available through the official REST API:

Category	Tools	Highlights
Schema Read	5	Full schema inspection — bases, tables, fields, views
Field Management	8	Create formula / rollup / lookup / count fields, validate formulas
View Configuration	11	Filters, sorts, grouping, column visibility, row height
Field Metadata	1	Set or update field descriptions
Extension Management	5	Create, install, enable/disable, rename, remove extensions

See the full tool reference in packages/mcp-server/README.md.

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Supported IDEs

The extension auto-configures MCP for all major AI-enabled editors:

Don't use VS Code? Use the standalone MCP server directly:

npx airtable-user-mcp

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Find Us

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Requirements

• VS Code ^1.100.0 (or any fork exposing the McpServerDefinitionProvider API)
• Node.js — bundled via the VS Code runtime; no separate install needed
• Google Chrome (or Edge / Chromium) — the Airtable login flow uses Patchright in headless mode. Falls back to msedge on Windows and chromium on Linux. The extension shows an actionable warning if no supported browser is detected.

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Development

This is a pnpm monorepo.

Package	Description
packages/extension	VS Code extension host (TypeScript + tsup)
packages/webview	React dashboard webview (Vite + Tailwind v4)
packages/shared	Shared types and message protocol
packages/mcp-server	airtable-user-mcp — ESM Node MCP server
scripts/	Build tooling (esbuild bundler, dep vendoring)

pnpm install          # install all packages
pnpm build            # build shared → webview → mcp bundle → extension
pnpm package          # build + create airtable-formula-X.Y.Z.vsix
pnpm test             # run all unit tests
pnpm dev              # start webview dev server (browser preview)

How the MCP server is bundled: scripts/bundle-mcp.mjs esbuilds packages/mcp-server/src/ into packages/extension/dist/mcp/. Then scripts/prepare-package-deps.mjs vendors patchright, patchright-core, and otpauth into dist/node_modules/ before vsce package runs. The VSIX is fully self-contained.

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Support This Project

This project is built and maintained with the help of AI coding tools. If you find it useful and want to support continued development (new tools, updates, bug fixes), you can contribute by gifting Claude Code credits — the primary tool used to build this project.

Interested? Open an issue or reach out to discuss feature requests and sponsorship.

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License

MIT