airtable-typegen

Generate TypeScript types & Zod schemas from your Airtable bases.

:warning: This tool is in ALPHA. It has not be thoroughly tested with Airtable bases in the wild. Please use carefully and sanity check the generated code before using in production! Contributions & bug reports are appreciated :)

Quickstart

$ npm install --save-dev airtable-typegen
# or
$ yarn add -D airtable-typegen

Then generate types via:

$ airtable-typegen <BASE_ID> -o ./types/airtable.d.ts

Or generate Zod schemas with the -z flag!

$ airtable-typegen <BASE_ID> -z -o ./src/schemas/airtable.ts

Setup

The script relies on the Airtable Meta API, which requires an Access Token. This is different than an Airtable API key. The simplest way to get one is by creating a personal access token:

1. Navigate to https://airtable.com/create/tokens
2. Click “Create token”
3. Enter a name (e.g. “airtable-typegen”)
4. Give it a scope of schema.bases:read
5. Give permission to your relevant bases/workspaces
6. Copy the created token & store it in your .env as AIRTABLE_TYPEGEN_ACCESS_TOKEN

Usage

The command takes a list of Airtable base IDs (those of the form appXYZ...) and some flags. It will output a file in your current working directory depending on the flags you supply it:

USAGE
  $ airtable-typegen [BASEID] [-v] [-z] [-t <value>]

ARGUMENTS
  BASEID  The Airtable Base ID (looks like appABC123XYZ). Can specify multiple.

FLAGS
  -o, --output=<value>  The file (relative to CWD) to write generated code to (defaults to "base-name.ts")
  -t, --tables=<value>  A comma-separated list of tables (names or ids) to generate from (defaults to all tables)
  -v, --version         Show CLI version.
  -z, --zod             Generate Zod schemas instead of TypeScript definitions

DESCRIPTION
  Generate TypeScript types and/or Zod schemas from an Airtable Base.
  Will read your Airtable API key from the AIRTABLE_TYPEGEN_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable.
  Reads environment from .env file if present in current working directory.

EXAMPLES
  $ airtable-typegen appABC123
  > Outputs TypeScript definitions to ./base-name.ts

  $ airtable-typegen appABC123 -t MyTable,tblUOInmv7kanMKjr
  > Outputs TypeScript definitions to ./base-name.ts for the specified tables

  $ airtable-typegen appABC123 -z -o ./src/schemas/airtable.ts
  > Outputs Zod schemas to ./src/schemas/airtable.ts

For example, you could do this in your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "generate:airtable": "airtable-typegen <BASE_ID> -z -o src/schemas/airtable.ts",
  }
}

then run it everytime you want to sync the types:

$ npm run generate:airtable

Alternatively, you could combine it into your dev and build commands (withs omething like npm-run-all, perhaps):

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "run-s generate:airtable 'remix build'",
    "dev": "run-s generate:airtable 'remix dev'",
    "generate:airtable": "airtable-typegen <BASE_ID> -z -o src/schemas/airtable.ts",
  }
}

TODO

• [ ] Show how types & Zod schemas can be used (currently need to parse each row individually)
• [ ] Add a thin runtime wrapper around Airtable SDK to parse FieldSets with proper types
• [ ] Improve example/

I probably won't work on this much until I absolutely need it. Sorry. Welcome any and all contributions!