Airtable · api · fg-0430

Airtable record is missing a field entirely when the checkbox is false or the cell is empty

record.fields.Done is undefined instead of false

Verified 2026-10-15 · Confirmed by 0 builders · Trust 50/100

Cause

List and get responses leave out any field whose value counts as empty, including empty strings, empty arrays and false. An unchecked checkbox and a deleted field look identical in the response.

Fix

Default every field you read, and get the real column list from the base schema endpoint instead of from returned rows.

Apply

const done = record.fields["Done"] ?? false;
const tags = record.fields["Tags"] ?? [];

Affects: Airtable Web API, all record read endpoints, as of 2026-10

Sources

• https://airtable.com/developers/web/api/list-records

claude mcp add --transport http footgun https://getfootgun.com/api/mcp