YCode for Airtable

Airtable Questions
1

I think I may have mentioned this a while ago - maybe on an Opensiders call. Back then, they had no Airtable support but the ability to create fast and clean UIs seemed like a good one to watch.

  • Ycode’s integration with Airtable allows you to access your data without the need for any third-party tools.
  • The integration is real-time, meaning your data is always up-to-date.
  • With Ycode’s custom design capabilities, you can create stunning designs for your Airtable data without any limitations.
  • Best of all, this integration is available in all Ycode plans, including the Free plan.

If you’re still groping for the perfect front end, this one might be a winner.

In the context of front-ends for Airtable, is it me, or is there more talk about Airtable in the background and other stuff in the foreground? Is this an early indication of a broader movement?

2

Of course, Ycode itself is a third party tool. Or Airtable is a third party tool, depending on how you look at it.

Looks like they use personal access tokens and not oAuth. If I understand Airtable’s comments correctly, they prefer that 3rd party tools use oAuth, but they cannot stop you from using personal access tokens.

I suppose they are doing a fresh read with every page load. I suppose that is how they (and every other portal) deals with expiring attachment urls.

The price looks nice. Haven’t seen what it is like to limit members to viewing their own data and only allowing conditional edits.

I think there are a lot of third party front-ends for Airtable because

  • The more people who use Airtable, the more people want to share access to their Airtable data.
  • Airtable’s native interfaces are not a solution for external users. Interfaces is too expensive and the styling is too limited.
  • Airtable’s API is so darn easy to use
3

Or, it’s a first-party tool that uses a number of back-end third-party databases. :wink:

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4

I tried YCode several months ago and found it to be frustratingly buggy, but it was still in beta at the time. I’ll give it another look!

5

Don’t get your hopes too lifted. It still has bugs, but it’s better. I have a brother-in-law who was an idiot. I helped him reshape his worldview, but he’s still an idiot. In contrast, YCode will get better and likely stay better.

I see YCode as a bell weather, not an ideal choice per se.

But the future of database front and back-ends will probably be a story of fragmentation. YCode may serve only to help us understand what’s next. Glide has certainly demonstrated this to a degree. So, with that, here is why things like YCode and Rowy (as an example) will dovetail nicely with AGI.

Opinion: The idea of monolithic no-code platforms that include both front and back ends may have run its course. If you anchor the best database UI to the most limiting back-end, you end up with Airtable. Finding corollaries is also effortless.

Fact: Many aftermarket platform buyers (Stacker, Softr, etc) typically have one attraction; a front-end that meets business requirements that Airtable doesn’t. The backend is fine; security, web access, etc., not so much.

Fact: Many delighted Airtable customers seek out pathways to meet high(er) data ceilings. They want (generally need) a different back-end. This is where Rowy rises to overcome Airtable’s low operating ceilings.

Fact: AGI shows signs that it can build information tools through careful descriptions. As primitive and clunky as these early experiments are, there is a pattern that can be extrapolated into near-term disruption. GPTPlugins are already demonstrating near-instant manifestations of rudimentary CRUD apps using SQL.

Probable Fact: Rowy is architecturally able to be “programmed” by AI to build a great back-end dynamically. Airtable is not.

Fact: YCode is architecturally able to be “programmed” by AI to build a front-end dynamically. Airtable is not.

Fact: Google App Sheet is a microcosm of this trend; a no-code front-end designer coupled with a back-end of your choosing from SQL to NoSQL, BigQuery, spreadsheet, and Firebase.

Opinion: No-code front-ends and back-ends will flourish in the coming years. It will become a race of specialists. No-code solutions will transition into best-of-breed components beginning with the fundamental decision point - Which front-end and back-end do I choose for this project?

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