Airtable Connector

Overview

Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid that many teams already use to manage content. The Trellis Airtable connector lets you use your existing Airtable base as the content source for your Webflow CMS.

How it works

1. Connect — authenticate with Airtable via OAuth. Trellis requests access to your bases.
2. Select a base and table — choose which Airtable base and table to sync.
3. Map fields — match Airtable columns to CMS collection fields. Trellis auto-suggests mappings based on field names and types.
4. Sync — Trellis pushes data from Airtable to your CMS. Changes in Airtable are detected via webhooks and synced automatically.

Field type mapping

Airtable and Webflow use different field type names. Here is how they map:

Airtable	Webflow CMS	Notes
Single line text	Plain text	Direct mapping
Long text	Rich text	Markdown converted to HTML
Number	Number	Direct mapping
Date	Date	Timezone handling applied
Attachment	Image/File	First attachment used for single image fields
Single select	Option	Values must match
Multiple select	Multi-option	Values must match
Checkbox	Boolean	Direct mapping
URL	Link	Direct mapping
Email	Email	Direct mapping
Phone	Phone	Direct mapping
Linked record	Reference	Requires both tables to be synced

Webhook sync

After initial sync, Trellis uses Airtable webhooks to detect changes in real time:

• New record — creates a new CMS item.
• Updated record — updates the corresponding CMS item.
• Deleted record — removes or unpublishes the CMS item (configurable).

Airtable webhooks expire after 7 days of inactivity. Trellis automatically refreshes them with a background task.

Rate limits

Airtable enforces 5 requests per second per base. Trellis handles rate limiting automatically:

• Requests are queued and throttled.
• Bulk operations are batched.
• Retries use exponential backoff.

For large syncs (1,000+ records), initial sync may take several minutes due to rate limits.

Attachment handling

Airtable attachment URLs expire after approximately 2 hours. Trellis handles this by:

1. Downloading attachments during sync.
2. Storing them in Firebase Storage.
3. Using the permanent Firebase URL in the CMS.

This ensures images and files remain accessible regardless of Airtable URL expiration.

Tips

1. Clean your Airtable data first — fix inconsistencies, empty fields, and duplicate records before connecting. Trellis syncs what is there, including messy data.
2. Use consistent field names — matching names between Airtable and your CMS makes auto-mapping more accurate.
3. Start with a small table — test with 10-20 records before syncing your entire base.
4. Check select field values — Airtable select options must exactly match CMS option values. "In Progress" and "In progress" are different.
5. Linked records require both tables — to sync reference fields, both the source and referenced tables must be connected to Trellis.