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@airtable/blocks-cli

Command line tool for Airtable Blocks development.

Installation

To install or update the block cli, run:

npm install --global @airtable/blocks-cli

Usage

$ npm install -g @airtable/blocks-cli
$ block COMMAND
running command...
$ block (-v|--version|version)
@airtable/blocks-cli/2.0.5 darwin-arm64 node-v18.20.1
$ block --help [COMMAND]
USAGE
  $ block COMMAND
...

Commands

block add-remote BLOCKIDENTIFIER REMOTENAME

[Beta] Add a new remote configuration

USAGE
  $ block add-remote BLOCKIDENTIFIER REMOTENAME

OPTIONS
  -h, --help  show CLI help

EXAMPLE
  $ block add-remote app12345678/blk12345678 new-remote

block help [COMMAND]

display help for block

USAGE
  $ block help [COMMAND]

ARGUMENTS
  COMMAND  command to show help for

OPTIONS
  --all  see all commands in CLI

See code: @oclif/plugin-help

block init BLOCKIDENTIFIER BLOCKDIRPATH

Initialize an Airtable extension project

USAGE
  $ block init BLOCKIDENTIFIER BLOCKDIRPATH

OPTIONS
  -h, --help           show CLI help
  --template=template  [default: https://github.com/Airtable/apps-hello-world]

EXAMPLE
  $ block init app12345678/blk12345678 hello-world-extension --template https://github.com/Airtable/apps-hello-world

block list-remotes

[Beta] List remote configurations

USAGE
  $ block list-remotes

OPTIONS
  -h, --help  show CLI help

EXAMPLE
  $ block list-remotes

block release

Release a build to an Airtable base

USAGE
  $ block release

OPTIONS
  -h, --help       show CLI help
  --remote=remote  [Beta] Configure which remote to use

EXAMPLE
  $ block release

block remove-remote REMOTENAME

[Beta] Remove a remote configuration

USAGE
  $ block remove-remote REMOTENAME

OPTIONS
  -h, --help  show CLI help

EXAMPLE
  $ block remove-remote old-remote

block run

Run the extension locally

USAGE
  $ block run

OPTIONS
  -h, --help       show CLI help
  --port=port      [default: 9000] HTTPS port the server listens on. The server will listen for HTTP on PORT + 1.
  --remote=remote  [Beta] Configure which remote to use

EXAMPLE
  $ block run

block set-api-key [APIKEY]

Set a personal access token (with block:manage scope) for an Airtable account to upload to

USAGE
  $ block set-api-key [APIKEY]

OPTIONS
  -h, --help             show CLI help
  --location=(user|app)  [default: user]

EXAMPLE
  $ block set-api-key
  $ block set-api-key TOKEN
  $ block set-api-key --location app TOKEN

block submit

Submit extension for review for listing in the the Airtable Marketplace

USAGE
  $ block submit

OPTIONS
  -h, --help       show CLI help
  --remote=remote  Configure which remote to use

EXAMPLE
  $ block submit

New features in v2

CSS Support

The new CLI supports css files within your extension by default. The default webpack bundler is configured with css-loader and style-loader. This means you can import a css file into your extension. Example:

// styles.css
.red {
  color: red;
}

import {initializeBlock} from '@airtable/blocks/ui';
import React from 'react';
import './styles.css'

function MyExtension() {
    return <div className="red">Hello world</div>;
}

initializeBlock(() => <MyExtension />);

Using code from other directories

The new CLI allows this method of code-sharing by allowing “sibling directories” outside the source directory to be bundled. Those other directories can include npm imports based on link or file.

More details and an example can be found here.

Customizing the webpack config

By default, the CLI uses webpack to bundle your code. Out of the box, it supports using plain JavaScript or TypeScript and styling via CSS files. If you want to customize the webpack config further, you can do so by installing the @airtable/blocks-webpack-bundler package. For more information about installing this package and customizing the webpack config, see the README for the @airtable/blocks-webpack-bundler package at packages/webpack-bundler/README.md.

Using a custom bundler

If customizing the webpack config as described above does not solve your use case, it is also possible to replace the bundler entirely with a custom implementation. This is will require a significant amount of work.

Custom bundlers allow users to replace the CLI's built-in bundling functionality that turns extension source code into publishable artifacts. Your custom bundler's output must conform to the Airtable platform's expected format, calling convention, and file structure.

Unlike other bundling systems, which allow configurability by composing multiple single-purpose plugins (or replacing just part of the bundling pipeline), this CLI exposes a simpler bundler extension API that expects a single, complete replacement of bundling functionality.

To use a custom bundler:

  1. Save your bundler as a JavaScript file (i.e. index.js). The bundler must be a CommonJS module. If your bundler in written in TypeScript, you must use the transpiled version as the entry file.

  2. Then, change the block.json ‘bundler.module’ option to point at your new bundler entry file; i.e.:

// block.json
{
    “bundler”: {
        “module”: “./bundler/index.js”
    }
}
  1. Once the change is made, restart your dev server (if running on a dev server).

A bundler needs to implement the following APIs:

class Bundler {
    async bundleAsync(options: ReleaseBundleOptions): Promise<void> {
        // implement release build
    }

    async findDependenciesAsync(options: SubmitFindDependenciesOptions): Promise<{files: Array<string>}> {
        // used in `block submit`
    }

    async startDevServerAsync(options: RunDevServerOptions & RunDevServerMethods): Promise<void> {
        // implement run development build
    }

    async teardownAsync(): Promise<void> {
        // implement any work needed to gracefully
        // close bundler process
    }
}

export default function() {
    return new Bundler();
}

For more details about the bundler API, see src/bundler/bundler.ts

Static assets are still not supported by default, but you can now swap in your own bundler that supports this.