The scripting app can streamline your workflows when you want to modify field information, add multiple records at once, filter with complex criteria, and more.

The scripting app is part of Airtable Apps, a Pro plan feature. Apps let you extend the functionality of your bases: you can use apps to bring new information into Airtable, visualize and summarize your records in colorful ways, and even directly integrate your Airtable bases with your favorite apps. The scripting app has been made available on the Free and Plus plans until March 2021. 

Getting started with the scripting app

Once you have added the scripting app to a dashboard in your base, the app will open up in edit mode with three panes. If you are not able to add the scripting app, your organization may have restricted the use of the scripting app for your account.

Any user can press the "run" button in a scripting app, however, the scripting app respects the permission level of the user running the script. For example, if a certain line of code were to "update a record" or "create a record", then the user running the script would need to have corresponding permission levels, in this case, creator-level permissions, in order to successfully run the script. If the user does not have those permissions, then the scripting app will throw an error code.

In the top left is the code editor where you write your script in Javascript. Below that is the in-app reference for the scripting app if you are looking for examples and help.  The result pane on the right half of the app displays the output of your code.

Running a script

To run a script, click the "Run" button in the right-hand results pane.  If you need to stop the executing script at any time, you can click the red "Stop" button in the upper right.  Once the script is complete, you have the option to run it again using the "Run" button. 

Script Settings

Using script settings, you can enable an interactive UI to make your script more user-friendly and easily customizable. Rather than hard-coding table names or field names, you can add an interactive UI to configure settings for the script.

To get started with script settings, add a call to input.config() at the beginning of your script, and follow the in-app documentation (under API -> Script Settings) in the scripting app code editor. You can also access the documentation and see more examples here. 

As you update your code in input.config(), the UI in the right-hand pane will update accordingly. Settings can be defined for tables, fields, views, text, numbers, and select options. After the settings have been configured in the interactive UI, the object returned from input.config() will contain the actual models for these items that can be referenced later in your code. When running a script with script settings enabled, the settings panel needs to be fully populated before the "Run" button is enabled. 

After settings are configured from the UI, the values chosen will persist between runs, and are shared between all collaborators. To re-configure the script settings, simply click the settings icon: 

FAQs

How can I trigger a script automatically?

As of now, the scripting app executes when you click the run button. If you're interested in writing a script that will run on a certain trigger, check out the Run a script Action for Automations. 

I need a bigger screen for my code.

You can minimize the in-app docs by clicking the down arrow.