Build a Job Board with Airtable as a Backend Database

Hello! Today, we are going to build a fully functional Job Board using Emergent with Airtable as the backend database. If you are new to this, don’t worry. This tutorial will walk you through everything step by step, from setting up Airtable to connecting it with Emergent and making live updates work in both directions.

By the end of this tutorial, you will have a working app and a good understanding of REST APIs, Base IDs, and API keys.

Why Airtable

Before we jump into building, let’s talk about why we are using Airtable as our backend.

Airtable is essentially a spreadsheet on steroids. You can create tables, add fields, and manage data, but it also comes with a REST API, which means apps like Emergent can read and write data directly.

Why Airtable over other databases like MySQL or Postgres?

Airtable lets you focus on building your app instead of wrestling with database setup.

Understanding REST APIs

A REST API is a way for two apps to communicate over the web using HTTP requests. Emergent uses Airtable’s REST API to fetch your job listings and write new ones.

Think of it this way:

The main operations you can perform are:

Here is what a single job record looks like in JSON:

{
  "id": "rec12345",
  "fields": {
    "Job Title": "Data Analyst",
    "Company": "Emergent",
    "Location": "Remote",
    "Job Type": "Full-time",
    "Description": "Analyze data and create dashboards",
    "Apply Link": "https://emergent.ai/jobs/data-analyst"
  }
}

Setting Up Your Airtable Base

Create a Base

Log in to Airtable and click ‘Build and App on your own’

Create a Table

Inside the base, a table will already be created called - ‘Table 1’. Add these fields to the table:

Get Your Base ID

Open the base in your browser. The URL will look like:

https://airtable.com/appXXXXXXX/tblYYYYYY/viwZZZZZZ

The Base ID is the appXXXXXXX part. Make sure to include the ‘app’ prefix.

Get Your API Key

Go to Airtable tokens page. Click Create new token and give it a name.

Select these scopes: data.records:read and data.records:write.

Select access for your Job Listings base and copy the token. Keep this token secret.

Airtable Tokens Page:  https://airtable.com/create/tokens  

Connecting Emergent to Airtable

With Emergent, connecting to Airtable is actually very simple. You just describe what you want in a prompt, and Emergent handles the backend setup for you. Here I mentioned that I want to use Airtable as my backend DB. The exact prompt I used:

Build a Job Board app connected to my Airtable base named “Emergent Job Board” Fetch and display fields: Job Title, Company, Location, Job Type, Description, Apply Link. Use a minimal, modern UI — white background, light gray dividers, rounded corners, and soft shadows. Show a simple header titled “Open Roles.” Display jobs as cards (3 per row on desktop, 1 on mobile). Each card should show Job Title in bold, Company beneath it, and Location + Job Type in smaller gray text, with an Apply button linking to the Apply URL. Add a filter bar with dropdowns for Location and Job Type. Below the listings, add a “Post a Job” form with input fields for all six fields above. When submitted, it should write a new record to the Airtable base. Ensure the layout is responsive and updates automatically when a new job is added.

When you include in your prompt that you want to use Airtable as your backend, Emergent automatically pulls its Airtable playbook. The agent will then ask you a few questions to confirm access and table structure:

Agent questions:

Airtable Access

To connect to your Airtable base "Emergent Job Board", I’ll need your:

Table Structure

Can you confirm the exact field names in your table? The agent will show what you mentioned:

You just need to confirm these, or let the agent know if there are variations.

Once you provide the credentials and confirm the field names, Emergent connects to Airtable automatically, sets up the endpoints, and tests the integration. After that, your app is ready to fetch and write data from your Airtable base, without you having to configure any API calls manually.

Now, Let’s test the App

Add a new job in Airtable. Refresh your app to see it appear.

Submit a new job using the form in the preview. Check Airtable to see the new record.

Here’s what the final output looks like:

Dark Mode

Light Mode

What You Can Do Next

Now that your Job Board is live and connected to Airtable, here are a few ways to take it even further:

Deployed Job Board Link:  https://openjobs.emergent.host/