User guide

Scripts

Scripts are small JavaScript programs that work on a base: clean up duplicates, change many records at once or build a report. They run in your browser, in a sandbox, with your own permissions: a script can only read and change what you could read and change by hand.

Open a base and click Scripts in the top bar. Editors, creators and owners see it; creators and owners write and change scripts, editors run them.

Write a script

Click + next to Scripts, or pick a tile under New script: a blank script or one of the examples (Remove duplicates, Find and replace, Summary report). Each example asks for its table and fields, so it works on any base.

The editor completes the script API as you type: type base., input. or output., or getTable(' for the base's table names. Click Save (or press Ctrl/⌘ S) to keep your changes. Run (Ctrl/⌘ Enter) runs what is in the editor, saved or not.

const table = base.getTable('Tasks');
const query = await table.selectRecordsAsync({ fields: ['Name', 'Status'] });
const open = query.records.filter((r) => r.getCellValueAsString('Status') !== 'Done');
output.markdown(`**${open.length}** open tasks`);
output.table(open.map((r) => ({ Task: r.name, Status: r.getCellValueAsString('Status') })));

The API

The API follows Airtable's scripting extension, so most Airtable scripts port with small changes.

• base: name, tables, getTable(nameOrId).
• A table: name, fields, views, primaryField, getField(nameOrId), getView(nameOrId), selectRecordsAsync({ fields, sorts, recordIds }), selectRecordAsync(id), createRecordAsync(fields), createRecordsAsync([{ fields }]), updateRecordAsync(record, fields), updateRecordsAsync([{ id, fields }]), deleteRecordAsync(record), deleteRecordsAsync(records).
• A view: selectRecordsAsync() gives the view's records in its order, with its filters.
• A record: id, name (the primary field's text), getCellValue(field), getCellValueAsString(field).
• input: textAsync(label), buttonsAsync(label, options), tableAsync(label), viewAsync(label, table), fieldAsync(label, table), recordAsync(label, tableOrViewOrQuery). The question shows in the output panel and the script waits for your answer.
• output: text(value), markdown(source), table(rows), inspect(value), clear().
• session.currentUser, and console.log for the output panel.

Fields are named by name or id. Cell values are OpenRows' own: a single select's value is its option's id, for example, so use getCellValueAsString for display text. Scripts are JavaScript; TypeScript type annotations aren't supported yet.

Safety and limits

A script runs in a sandboxed frame with no access to the app, your session, cookies or storage, and no network: fetch and remoteFetchAsync aren't available. Everything it does to the base goes through the same API as the app, as you, so table and field edit permissions and plan limits apply. Click Stop to end a run at any time.

One run may make up to 2,000 calls (20 per second; faster scripts wait), read 50,000 records, change 10,000 and show 1,000 outputs. Create, update and delete take at most 50 records per call, as in Airtable. A run stops after 15 minutes.