Airtable Base Replicator

Lets students replicate your Airtable table structures into their own bases. No data is copied — only tables, fields, and field configurations. Designed for classrooms where everyone needs identical base schemas (e.g., for n8n automations).

How it works

Your side (teacher) — two options:

Option A: Admin Web UI (no terminal needed)

1. Open admin.html in your browser
2. Enter your API key, proxy URL, Base ID, and Course Name
3. Click "Fetch Schema & Generate HTML"
4. Download the generated HTML file
5. Upload it to GitHub Pages (or any host) and share the link

Option B: CLI (terminal)

1. Run export-schema.js to read your base schema
2. Run generate-html.js to produce the install HTML file
3. Share the HTML file with students

Student side:

1. Click the install link you shared (or open the HTML file)
2. Enter their Airtable API key and Base ID
3. Click "Start" — tables and fields are created automatically

Setup

1. Install dependencies

cd cli
npm install

2. Deploy the CORS proxy

The Airtable API blocks browser requests (CORS). A tiny Cloudflare Worker acts as a pass-through proxy.

# Install wrangler if you don't have it
npm install -g wrangler

# Login to Cloudflare
wrangler login

# Deploy the worker
cd worker
npx wrangler deploy

After deploying, you'll get a URL like https://airtable-replicator-proxy.YOUR-ACCOUNT.workers.dev. Save this — you'll need it in step 4.

Free tier: 100,000 requests/day (more than enough for a classroom).

3. Export your base schema

cd cli
node export-schema.js --base appYOUR_BASE_ID --key patYOUR_API_KEY --name "My Course Base"

This creates output/schema.json with the processed schema. Your API key and Base ID are not embedded in the output.

Options:

• --output ./path/to/file.json — custom output path
• --name "Human Readable Name" — name shown to students

4. Generate install pages

cd cli
node generate-html.js --schema ../output/schema.json --proxy https://airtable-replicator-proxy.YOUR-ACCOUNT.workers.dev

This creates output/install-all.html.

Options:

• --per-table — also generate one HTML file per table
• --output ./path/to/dir — custom output directory

5. Share with students

Upload the HTML files to:

• GitHub Pages
• Your LMS (Canvas, Moodle, etc.)
• Google Drive (as a downloadable file)
• Or email them directly

Student instructions

Give your students these steps:

1. Create a Personal Access Token at airtable.com/create/tokens

   • Scopes needed: schema.bases:write and data.records:write
   • Add access to the base they want to set up

2. Create an empty base in Airtable (or use an existing empty one)

3. Get the Base ID from the URL: airtable.com/appXXXXXXXXXX/...

4. Open the install page you shared with them

5. Enter their token and Base ID, then click Start

Field handling

Field Type	Behavior
Text, number, checkbox, select, date, etc.	Created automatically
Linked records	Created automatically (two-pass: tables first, then links)
Formula, rollup, lookup, count	Created as "Long Text" placeholders with setup instructions in the field description and in a special instruction row
Inverse link fields	Skipped (Airtable auto-creates these)

For formula/rollup/lookup/count fields, the tool:

• Creates the field as Long Text with the original name
• Adds the formula/config to the field description
• Creates an instruction row in the table with step-by-step setup instructions
• Students change the field type manually and paste the formula/config

Security

• Your API key and Base ID are only used locally during schema export. They are never embedded in any output file.
• Student API keys are sent over HTTPS to the Cloudflare Worker, which forwards them to Airtable. The Worker never stores or logs keys.
• The Worker only forwards requests to https://api.airtable.com/*.

Project structure

airtable-base-replicator/
├── cli/
│   ├── export-schema.js     # Fetches and processes base schema
│   ├── generate-html.js     # Generates install HTML files
│   └── package.json
├── template/
│   └── install.html         # Student UI template
├── worker/
│   ├── index.js             # Cloudflare Worker CORS proxy
│   └── wrangler.toml
├── admin.html               # Teacher admin UI (no terminal needed)
├── output/                  # Generated files (gitignored)
└── README.md

Updating a schema

If you change your base structure, re-run the export and generate steps:

cd cli
node export-schema.js --base appYOUR_BASE_ID --key patYOUR_API_KEY --name "My Course Base"
node generate-html.js --schema ../output/schema.json --proxy https://your-worker.workers.dev

Then redistribute the updated HTML files.

Hosting for students

The easiest way to share install pages is via GitHub Pages (free):

1. Create a GitHub repo (e.g., my-course-installers)
2. Upload your generated HTML files to the repo
3. Go to Settings → Pages → Source: main branch
4. Students access the install page at: https://yourusername.github.io/my-course-installers/install-ai-video-b-roll-agent.html

Other options: Netlify drop (drag & drop), your LMS file manager, Google Drive (share link → student downloads), or email the HTML file directly.