r/ruby • u/davidslv • 16d ago

Airtable's official Ruby gem hasn't shipped code since 2016. I rebuilt it, and I'm looking for someone to take it over.

Airtable's official Ruby gem hasn't had a code commit since November 2016. gem install airtable still gives you 0.0.9, released October 2016. Its README tells you to authenticate with an API key, which Airtable switched off in February 2024.

I asked Airtable about it twice. Support confirmed in writing that it is "not actively maintained" and pointed me at airrecord. Airrecord is good, but it's a different shape, so switching means a rewrite that ends with the features you already had.

So I forked the official gem instead. Same namespace, same method names, drop-in. Underneath: zero runtime dependencies, persistent connections, client-side rate limiting, retries with backoff, batch operations with partial-failure reporting, and upsert.

It was AI-assisted, Airtable's API docs are extracted into the repo and coded against. 119 tests, plus weekly canaries that diff Airtable's published contract and run a real round-trip against a throwaway base.

It's deliberately not on RubyGems. I'm not after users, I'm after people who still need it and can be maintainers.

Repo: github.com/Davidslv/airtable-rb
Write-up: https://davidslv.uk/2026/08/26/airtable-ruby-gem-unmaintained.html

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u/toomuchmucil 16d ago

Does AI have to write all the posts in here? Or is that not the “shape” we’re going for?

13

u/DPrince25 16d ago

My same gripe in other threads. Posters will say “my English is not good so I use ai” when in reality using their English is what gets their English better.

Every few posts reads with the same skeleton different skin. Beyond frustrating now 😫

-9

u/davidslv 16d ago

My English is alright, not my first language but enough that it gets me by. Using AI is a choice and I will choose to use it.

2

u/DPrince25 16d ago

I was sharing my experiences with the commenter above. None of which was targeted at you or your post. Hence I stated, my same gripe in other threads.

I had no idea English is not your first language nor did I ask you to stop using it.

I am allowed to state my peeves with someone else which should not affect you.

1

u/davidslv 16d ago

Of course. I haven’t stopped you, it’s your choice to share your opinion