Creating a formula field returns an unsupported-field-type error on the REST API, and the official MCP server is a wrapper over that same API, so it inherits the gap. Working through the internal API — the one the web UI itself uses — is what makes formula fields, rollups, view filters and extensions reachable. Two consequences worth weighing: it authenticates as you rather than as a scoped token, so start on the read-only or safe-write profile rather than full; and it depends on an internal API, which carries the usual risk that it can change without notice.
A local MCP server that works through Airtable's own internal API, covering schema and formula work the public REST API does not expose, alongside a VS Code editor and a language server for Airtable formulas.
- 72 tools plus manage_tools, against Airtable's internal API rather than the public REST one
- Formula fields created and their formula text updated — both rejected by the public API
- Rollup, lookup and count fields created, which the REST API also refuses
- A formula validated before it is applied, instead of finding out in production
- Full view configuration read back: filters, sorts, groups, field visibility, row height and descriptions
- query_records, returning lookup, rollup and formula fields fully resolved, with substring search across those resolved values
- duplicate_records, and fields renamed, duplicated or deleted with a dependency summary first
- create_records, update_records, delete_records, upload_attachment and sync_base
- Tool profiles that cap what is exposed: read-only at 12 tools, safe-write at 54, full at 72, or a custom set
- A background daemon with optional Cloudflare or ngrok tunnelling through tunnel_enable and tunnel_disable, and token_rotate for credential rotation
Your normal Airtable account — you log in through the browser, SSO and two-factor included, and the credentials go into your OS keychain rather than into a personal access token you manage. Published to npm as airtable-user-mcp and run locally over stdio, so requests go straight to Airtable from your machine. The repository positions this as an add-on to the official Airtable MCP rather than a replacement; registering both gives records over the official server and schema work over this one.
One command — npx -y airtable-user-mcp login