How to add Airtable MCP Server to Claude Desktop

Read and write access to Airtable bases — inspect schemas, query, and modify records, tables, fields, and comments. Paste the config into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json and restart Claude Desktop.

Last updated June 14, 2026 · 449★ · stdio · apikey

Claude Desktop config for Airtable MCP Server

npx -y airtable-mcp-server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "airtable-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "airtable-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AIRTABLE_API_KEY": "pat123.abc123"
      }
    }
  }
}

Setup steps

1Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config (this opens ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json).
2Paste the Airtable MCP Server config below under the top-level "mcpServers" key.
3Fill in any placeholder secrets (API keys, paths) in the snippet.
4Save the file, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.
5Open a chat and confirm Airtable MCP Server's tools appear under the 🔌 tools menu.

Before you start

An Airtable personal access token with appropriate scopes (schema.bases:read, data.records:read, and optionally the :write and data.recordComments scopes)
Node.js (for npx / JSON configuration installation)

What Airtable MCP Server can do in Claude Desktop

list_records

Lists records from a specified Airtable table, with optional maxRecords limit and Airtable filterByFormula filtering.

search_records

Searches for records containing specific text, optionally restricted to given field IDs, with an optional maxRecords limit.

list_bases

Lists all accessible Airtable bases, returning base ID, name, and permission level. No input parameters required.

list_tables

Lists all tables in a base, returning ID, name, description, fields, and views at the requested detailLevel (tableIdentifiersOnly, identifiersOnly, or full).

describe_table

Gets detailed information about a single table at the requested detailLevel, returning the same format as list_tables for one table.

get_record

Gets a specific record by its record ID from a table.

create_record

Creates a new record in a table from a provided fields object.

update_records

Updates one or more records in a table, given an array of record IDs and the fields to update.

Security

Authentication uses an Airtable personal access token supplied via the AIRTABLE_API_KEY environment variable; scope the token to only the bases and permissions you need. The optional HTTP transport (MCP_TRANSPORT=http) has no built-in authentication and should only be run behind a reverse proxy or in a secured environment.

Airtable MCP Server + Claude Desktop FAQ

Where is the Claude Desktop config file?

Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Paste the Airtable MCP Server config there under the "mcpServers" key and restart the client.

Is Airtable MCP Server safe to use with Claude Desktop?

How do I authenticate?

Create an Airtable personal access token at airtable.com/create/tokens/new, grant it the scopes you need (schema.bases:read and data.records:read at minimum, plus :write scopes for editing), and provide it via the AIRTABLE_API_KEY environment variable.

Can it run as a remote/HTTP server?

Yes. Running with MCP_TRANSPORT=http PORT=3000 npx airtable-mcp-server starts a stateless HTTP server at http://localhost:3000/mcp. This transport has no built-in authentication, so only run it behind a reverse proxy or in a secured environment.

Which clients are supported?

The README documents installation for Claude Desktop (extensions browser, .mcpb, or JSON config), Cursor (one-click or JSON config), and Cline (marketplace or JSON config).

View repo Full Airtable MCP Server page