@Michelle_Valentine - does this signal an official release of the Custom Blocks platform, or are we still in beta?

Great question, Jeremy. This is still our beta - now with a more open developer preview. Don’t worry, you’ll definitely know when we fully launch

Hey Michelle,

Does Airtable have the intention of creating a ‘block store’ where individuals can create and monetize blocks that expand the functionality of Airtable?

Hi Chris! That’s something we’re exploring, but no concrete plans to share yet.

@openside does a roundup of Scripts found in the forums, maybe they’ll do the same with Custom Blocks

Amazing!!! I just built a tool for creating websites without code using Airtable as a database. This would be a good opportunity for me to turn my templates into blocks as well!

@pory do you have an example of how you used Airtable for websites we could see (screenshots)?

Guys, entering the dev and code universe when you build a brand based on no-code requieres better naming conventions (naming is hard indeed)

stuff that makes no sens ;

• how is Scripting block different than custom block ? In general when scripting you are creating custom logic



• in Airtable Blocks SDK there is a reference to the Block SDK, is this sdk also related to the scripting block ? it looks like not, but then change the name so it does not use 50% of the words of “scripting block” feature

my 2 cts

Hi @Michelle_Valentine are we able to create blocks even if we don’t have a paid or pro account? thx

Hi @chie

The Scrupt Block is available now, for the free and paid plans, until this September.

Hope this helps.

Mary Kay

P.S. I thought I would jump in, hope you don’t mind.

That’s right, thanks Chie and Mary Kay!

@Michelle_Valentine Is Custom Blocks available on free plans only until September, the same as for Scripting Block? Or will Custom Blocks remain available to free workspaces a little longer? I asked on this thread, but didn’t get an answer there.

Scripting block was released in February, so it free users will be able use a release version of Scripting block for over half a year before having to decide if they want to pay for the functionality.

However, as Custom Blocks is still in beta, keeping Custom Blocks free only until September won’t give customers much time with a release version to decide if they want to pay for it. (Some companies might not be willing to test Custom Blocks in a production environment until it is out of beta.)

Chiming in, I’ll add these additional observations.

Who Uses Custom Script Blocks?

There are fundamentally four classes of Custom Script Block “users” -

1. Independent developers



2. Enterprise developers



3. Airtable customers unaffiliated with an enterprise



4. Airtable customers affiliated with an enterprise.

Custom Blocks are built and published by two classes of developers and their Custom Block solutions are generally consumed by two classes of users.

To incentivize innovation with Custom Blocks, Airtable will do well to ensure all developers (class #1 and #2) will have full and unrestricted access to be able to explore, develop, and test new Custom Block apps. Anything short of this, and innovation and expansion of the development community will be constrained.

Since users in class #4 are #by definition] “enterprise customers”, I suspect these users would ostensibly have access to Pro features.

That leaves class #3 - free and paying customers who - in my view - will not likely be compelled to pay for access to blocks alone] unless they need more than a handful of blocks.

Why should a paying customer who uses just the CSV Import Block subsidize users who pay the same monthly rate but employ 25 blocks? Imagine if access to all 2 million iOS apps were available for $29/month and you only wanted to use the weather app.

However you might parse this question, it suggests that blocks should be available in an a-la-carte menu that offers block-level pricing - ergo, a block store perhaps.

Are we need to get pro account for participating in blocks contest??

Because on free account, I am getting an option to integrate custom block!!

You don’t need a pro account to make a custom block/participate in the contest. The contest does end in 2 days though so hurry!

Hey, I was just having some issues creating custom blocks and I wasn’t exactly sure how to reach out. For some reason when I try to create my first block using Kasra’s tutorial I get ‘zsh: command not found: block’, after having installed the Block CLI. Is there something I’m missing? Thanks!

That usually happens if the folder where npm installs global packages isn’t on your PATH. You can see the path of the folder by running: npm config ls -l | grep prefix

On my machine, running macOS I see the following output:

prefix = "/Users/kasra/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1"

Then if I do echo $PATH, I see that /Users/kasra/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin is in the list.

After the deadline has passed, will be able to see everyone’s submissions? Or will that be left to the discretion of each submitter?

The submissions are open sourced, so most likely we’ll be able to see them.

The rules for the contest say that we must include an invite link to the Airtable base where the fully-functioning Block is released.

Make sure you are sending the base share invite link (and not just the URL)

What level of permissions should this invite link include? Creator? Editor? Commenter? Read-only?

My hunch is Creator. If they’re going to test our code, they are probably going to test if we’ve safeguarded against tables/fields being added/deleted.

Kamille is correct. In case you’re curious, we’ll be accessing the base using our @airtable.com email addresses, so it won’t impact any credits / charges for those that are on a paid pro plan.

If you’re reading this after the deadline (July 6 @ 10am PT) and are worried that you granted the wrong permissions, do not worry! We can also release another version of your block by remixing from the github link in your submission. It will save us time and better position your use case to evaluate the block in your desired base though!

Thanks!

How will commits to the GitHub repository after the deadline be handled?

I plan on having my block fully functional finished by the deadline, but I will want to go back and polish up the documentation and comments after the deadline.

The assessment will be focused on the block you released in the base and the answers provided in the submission. We’re not judging the quality of your documentation (see judging criteria), but always helpful to have clear documentation. Excited to see your block!

Thanks for this info. Regardless of the outcome of the contest, I will be updating the documentation and comments because I believe that quality of documentation is important. I just wanted to make sure that future commits to my repository won’t cause a problem with my entries. (If they would, I can wait until after the hackathon is over before pushing them.)