airvault

name	airvault
description	Back up Airtable bases into local verifiable archives with schema, records, attachments, checksums, and gap reports.

airvault

Use airvault when you need to preserve Airtable data before a plan downgrade, account migration, or emergency archival window.

Workflow

1. Set AIRTABLE_TOKEN in the environment.
2. Run airvault auth doctor --format json.
3. Run airvault estimate --format json to get record and attachment totals.
4. Run airvault backup create --out ./airtable-backup --format json.
5. Run airvault backup verify --path ./airtable-backup --mode exists --format json.

Selective backups:

airvault backup create --base appXXXXXXXX --table Students --exclude attachments --out ./students
airvault backup create --include schema,records,attachments,comments,views --out ./full

Exports:

airvault export sqlite --path ./airtable-backup --out airtable.sqlite --overwrite --format json
airvault export postgres --path ./airtable-backup --out airtable.sql --overwrite --format json
airvault export jsonl --path ./airtable-backup --out ./jsonl --overwrite --format json

Grist import:

airvault import grist --path ./airtable-backup --dry-run --format json
airvault import grist --path ./airtable-backup --url http://localhost:8484 --workspace 3 --api-key "$GRIST_API_KEY" --include-formulas --include-attachments --report grist-migration-report.json --format json

NocoDB and Baserow imports:

airvault import nocodb --path ./airtable-backup --dry-run --format json
airvault import nocodb --path ./airtable-backup --url http://localhost:8080 --token "$NOCODB_TOKEN" --format json
airvault import baserow --path ./airtable-backup --dry-run --format json
airvault import baserow --path ./airtable-backup --url http://localhost:8081 --token "$BASEROW_TOKEN" --workspace 1 --format json

Testing:

airvault test full --out /tmp/airvault-test --overwrite --format json
airvault backup verify --path ./airtable-backup --mode exists --format json
airvault backup verify --path ./airtable-backup --mode sample --sample-size 50 --format json
airvault backup verify --path ./airtable-backup --mode full --format json
airvault test verify --path ./airtable-backup --mode exists --format json
airvault test export --path ./airtable-backup --out /tmp/airvault-export-test --format json

Defaults:

airvault config defaults --format json
airvault config set-defaults --backup-root ./airtable-backups --verify-mode exists --sample-size 25

Notes

• Attachment URLs expire, so real backup runs download files immediately.
• Linked records are preserved by Airtable record IDs.
• Formula field definitions are preserved in schema metadata when Airtable exposes them. import grist --include-formulas translates simple formulas into Grist formula columns and reports formulas that need review.
• import nocodb and import baserow are archive-driven and do not require live Airtable access. Complex Airtable-only values are stored as JSON text for portability.
• Comments are backed up only when --include comments is set and the token has the required scope.
• Interfaces, automations, extensions, and permissions are reported in gap-report.json as unsupported surfaces.
• API restrictions and rate limits are reported in api-telemetry.json. Review it after live runs.