Airtable MCP server

This MCP server provides tools for programmatic interaction with Airtable's API, allowing you to manage bases, tables, fields, and records through Claude Desktop or other MCP clients. It features a specialized implementation that builds tables in stages to minimize failures when creating complex table structures.

Installation Requirements

Node.js Setup

• Install Node.js (version 18 or higher) and npm from nodejs.org
• Verify your installation with:

  node --version
  npm --version
  

Obtaining an Airtable API Key

1. Log in to your Airtable account at airtable.com
2. Create a personal access token at Airtable's Builder Hub
3. Select these required scopes:
   • data.records:read
   • data.records:write
   • schema.bases:read
   • schema.bases:write
4. Choose which workspace or bases to give access to
5. Save your API key for the configuration step

Installation Methods

Method 1: Using npx (Recommended)

1. Navigate to the Claude configuration directory:

   • Windows: C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\Claude
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/

2. Create or edit claude_desktop_config.json:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "airtable": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["@felores/airtable-mcp-server"],
         "env": {
           "AIRTABLE_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

   Note: For Windows paths, use double backslashes (\\) or forward slashes (/).

Method 2: Using mcp-installer

1. Install mcp-installer
2. Install the Airtable MCP server by prompting Claude Desktop:

   Install @felores/airtable-mcp-server set the environment variable AIRTABLE_API_KEY to 'your_api_key'
   

Verifying Installation

1. Start Claude Desktop
2. Check that the Airtable MCP server appears in the "Connected MCP Servers" section
3. Test with a simple command:

   List all bases
   

Available Operations

Base Management

• List all accessible Airtable bases
• List all tables in a base
• Create a new table with fields
• Update a table's name or description

Field Management

• Add a new field to a table
• Modify an existing field

Record Operations

• Retrieve records from a table
• Add a new record
• Modify an existing record
• Remove a record
• Find records matching criteria
• Get a single record by its ID

Field Types and Options

Supported Field Types

• singleLineText: Single line text field
• multilineText: Multi-line text area
• email: Email address field
• phoneNumber: Phone number field
• number: Numeric field with optional precision
• currency: Money field with currency symbol
• date: Date field with format options
• singleSelect: Single choice from options
• multiSelect: Multiple choices from options

Field Colors

Available colors for select fields:

• blueBright, redBright, greenBright
• yellowBright, purpleBright, pinkBright
• grayBright, cyanBright, orangeBright
• blueDark1, greenDark1

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.