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Question

How to add native Comments section to Custom Interface Extension?

  • February 11, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 86 views
Adam Wotzka
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Hi community!

I'm building a Custom Interface Extension (with Claude Code) and want to add the native Airtable comments section to my detail view - just like you can add it in the Interface Designer.

Question: Is there a component or method to embed the native comments UI in a Custom Interface Extension?

What I've tried:

  •  Searching for components like RecordComments, CommentSection in @airtable/blocks interface-alpha SDK
  • Using expandRecord() - but this opens a separate modal instead of inline display
  • Building a custom solution via REST API (works, but missing @mention autocomplete)

  What I want:
  The same comments section you get in Interface Designer - with all features like:

  • Inline display (no modal)
  • @mentions with autocomplete
  • Profile pictures
  • Full comment thread

Is this possible? Or is the only option to build everything custom via the Comments REST API?

Working with Claude Code and we can't find any documentation for this.

Any guidance appreciated! 🙏

4 replies

Mike_AutomaticN
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Hey ​@Adam Wotzka,

This is an interesting one. I don’t think I’ll have time to play around with it today, but if you figure that out please do let us know! I’ll be needing that soon :D
 

Completely different matter, but would love to have you join the March 2026 AT Community led Hackathon! Make sure to sign up!!

 

Mike, Consultant @ Automatic Nation 
YouTube Channel 

Adam Wotzka
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  • Adam Wotzka
  • Author
  • New Participant
  • February 17, 2026

solved it

Mike_AutomaticN
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​@Adam Wotzka would you mind sharing two words on it, and maybe a screenshot?

This would be really valuable for sure.

Mike

Adam Wotzka
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  • Adam Wotzka
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  • March 14, 2026

​@Mike_AutomaticN 

How it works:

  - Read/Create/Delete comments via GET/POST/DELETE to https://api.airtable.com/v0/{baseId}/{tableId}/{recordId}/comments with a Personal Access Token

  - @Mentions: Use @[userEmail] format in the text body (e.g. "Hey @[john@company.com] check this"). Airtable resolves this natively — shows profile pic, display name, and triggers notifications. Important:
  don't use @[userId] — the SDK user IDs differ from API user IDs, so they won't resolve.

  - Mention autocomplete: Get the list of users from table.parentBase.activeCollaborators (SDK property), then built a custom dropdown that filters by name/email as you type after @

  - Rendering mentions: The API response includes a mentioned object that maps user IDs to {displayName, email} — use that to render styled mention badges in your UI

 

  Tech stack: React + Tailwind CSS, no Airtable UI components (they're not available in interface extensions anyway).

 

  The whole thing is ~800 lines across 4 files: a comment display component, a mention input component, a comments API hook, and a collaborators hook.
 

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