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Airtable setup

This section explains how to set up and configure the connector, including authentication, credentials, crawl options, and verification.

Requirements​

This section outlines all the technical, credential, and permission requirements, as well as any required setup steps on Airtable.

Technical requirements​

  • Glean must be deployed with access to Google Cloud Platform (all customer data is managed there).
  • You must be an Airtable Enterprise customer.
  • Access to the Admin console.

Credential requirements​

  • An Airtable personal access token (PAT) generated by an enterprise admin using the Airtable UI.
  • The PAT must have the following scopes:
    • workspacesAndBases:read (admins only)
    • schema.bases:read
    • data.records:read
    • data.recordComments:read
    • enterprise.account:read (admins only)
    • enterprise.user:read (admins only)
    • enterprise.groups:read
    • webhook:manage (base creators only)
  • The PAT must have access to "all current and future bases in the organization", where available. If only "workspace" level is offered, access will be limited to those base(s).
  • Enable webhooks in Airtable for full real-time updates.

Permission requirements​

  • The PAT must be created by a user in the enterprise admin role.
  • Admins should ensure permission scopes are correctly set during PAT creation.
  • Glean enforces all base and workspace-level access controls using user and group identities fetched from Airtable.
  • For each supported endpoint, the minimum scope and privilege requirements are as above.
  • Access is strictly limited to bases, tables, and records visible to the PAT creator; users will only see results corresponding to the Airtable permissions they have.

Step 1: Generate an Airtable personal access token (PAT)​

Glean integrates with Airtable using an administrative personal access token (PAT). Save the token from this step; you will enter it in the Glean setup screen later.

  1. Navigate to the Airtable Token Creation page.
  2. Click Create token. (Note: If you have previously created tokens, this button will be in the top-right corner; otherwise, it is in the center of the screen.)
  3. In the Token name field, enter Glean.
  4. Add the following required scopes:
    • data.records:read
    • data.recordComments:read
    • schema.bases:read
    • webhook:manage
    • enterprise.groups:read
    • workspacesAndBases:read
    • enterprise.account:read
    • enterprise.user:read
  5. Under Access, select your organization name. Ensure you grant access to All current and future bases in the organization rather than a single base.
  6. Click Create token in the bottom-right corner.
  7. Copy the generated token from the confirmation pop-up window.

Step 2: Determine your Airtable Enterprise account ID​

Identify your Enterprise account ID from the Airtable Admin panel. Save it; you will enter it in the Glean setup screen later.

  1. Sign in to your Airtable instance and open the Airtable admin panel.
  2. Locate and copy the Account ID from the left-hand panel. The value always starts with ent (for example, entExampleAccount00).

Step 3: Add configuration details in Glean​

  1. In the Admin console, go to Connectors and select Add connector.
  2. Select Airtable.
  3. Enter a name for the connector.
  4. Paste the generated token from step 1 into the PAT field.
  5. Paste your Airtable account ID from step 2 into the Enterprise ID field.
  6. Click Save.

Verify indexing​

After you save the connector, the initial crawl begins. For large Airtable instances the initial crawl can take time to complete, and the sync status shown in the Admin console may lag behind actual progress. Keep the following in mind while the connector ramps up:

  • Content appears in Glean incrementally as the connector crawls it. A base or table that is not yet visible may still be in the crawl queue.
  • Access results are only complete after the identity crawl finishes. Until then, a user may not see all the content they are entitled to.
  • After the initial crawl, the connector picks up new and updated records and comments on the incremental (hourly) crawl cadence, and in near real time through webhooks.

Crawl configuration options​

By default, the connector indexes all bases and tables accessible to the PAT. The Glean connector UI has no self-serve allowlist (inclusion) or denylist (exclusion) setting. You control indexing scope in two places:

  • Airtable side (you control this): The PAT's resource access, together with your workspace and base membership, determines which bases and tables the connector can reach. To contain what the connector indexes, limit the PAT to specific bases or workspaces at creation time, and adjust base and workspace membership. This is the primary way to scope the connector.
  • Glean side (support-assisted): Glean can apply a base-level allowlist or denylist on the backend to restrict indexing to a specific set of bases. The connector UI does not expose this setting. Contact your Glean representative to configure it.

The connector UI does not expose a lookback period, custom object configuration, or incremental-specific crawl settings.

Limit scope for initial rollout​

Before you roll out to your full enterprise, decide how much of Airtable to index first. Pick the path that matches your rollout:

Index a small, representative slice of Airtable, then expand once you have validated it.

1

Scope the PAT to the pilot content

When you create the PAT, grant base access (under Access) to only the workspaces or bases you want to test, for example, a single workspace, instead of All current and future bases in the organization. The connector indexes only those bases' records and comments.

2

Keep the enterprise identity scopes

Permission-aware indexing depends on the enterprise scopes (enterprise.account:read, enterprise.user:read, enterprise.groups:read). Keep these enabled during the pilot so Glean can resolve users and groups. The identity crawl needs enterprise-account access and has no workspace-only mode.

3

Validate what is indexed

After the first crawl, confirm that only the pilot bases and tables appear in Glean and that permissions resolve correctly for a few test users.

4

Expand after confirmation

Widen the PAT's access to All current and future bases in the organization, or ask Glean support to widen the backend allowlist, and rerun the crawl.

Example values to copy and adjust:

# Airtable PAT (create at airtable.com/create/tokens)
Token name:  Glean (pilot)
Access:      Marketing workspace     # replace with your pilot workspace or bases
Scopes:      data.records:read
             data.recordComments:read
             schema.bases:read
             webhook:manage
             workspacesAndBases:read
             enterprise.account:read
             enterprise.user:read
             enterprise.groups:read

# Glean setup screen (Admin console > Connectors > Airtable)
Connector name:  Airtable
PAT:             <paste the token created above>
Enterprise ID:   entExampleAccount00     # replace with your account ID (Airtable admin panel)

The enterprise.* scopes are not available when creating the PAT​

The connector uses Airtable's Enterprise Admin API and requires the enterprise.account:read, enterprise.user:read, and enterprise.groups:read scopes. If these scopes are not selectable when you create the token, confirm both of the following:

  • Your Airtable instance is on the Enterprise plan. These endpoints are only available to Airtable Enterprise customers.
  • The token is being created by a user with the enterprise admin role.

OAuth is not supported. The connector uses a personal access token only.

See also​

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© 2026, Glean Technologies, Inc.
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