Automated webhook server to update local schema as edits are made on the base.

[Squix]

Overview

Add a new webhook-server command that automatically sets up and manages webhooks to track schema changes in Airtable bases. This feature will enable real-time schema tracking without manual polling.

Motivation

Currently, users need to manually run get-schema to capture base structure changes. An automated webhook system would:

• Capture schema changes in real-time
• Improve the Version-control workflow by automating schema version control

Proposed Implementation

New Command

./airtable-devops webhook-server --base-id <your_base_id> --port 3000 --output-dir <output_directory>

Key Features

1. Automated Setup
   • Create ngrok tunnel automatically when server starts
   • Register webhook with Airtable API pointing to ngrok URL
   • Clean up resources on server shutdown
2. Versioning
   • Use the existing timestamped files for each change, before we develop a git integration

Technical Requirements

• Add new command to CLI
• Add ngrok as a dependency
• Implement Airtable webhook API integration
• Create webhook server module
• Update documentation

Questions to Resolve

1. Can we really create free ngrok tunnels automatically ? Should the user register its ngrok API key ?
2. Which system to handle versioning ? Should we start with the existing timestamped files for each change ? O

[Squix]

It seems a custom extension (with the Block API) could do the trick too : https://airtable.com/developers/extensions/api/UI/hooks/useBase
In fact, we can track changes in the user browser with this extension, and auto-push the new schema to a github repo.

But it means :

• either packaging the CLI (including heavy validation function) into the custom extension
• keep the webhook server idea, but the webhook will come from the extension, and a ngrok tunnel is still needed

[Squix]

After a little digging, the change API I want to tap is only for entreprise bases. So the custom extension seems compulsory for this project.