They never promised immutable and sustained addressability to those attachments outside of the Airtable UI. Inexperienced database makers don’t typically think about the architectural consequences of using a feature designed for internal use in an external dependency.Īirtable promised that you could upload attachments as “copies” of documents and images and they have upheld that promise. But there have been warning signals here in the community going back as far as 2018. Yep - this is a safe assumption and Airtable could have managed this better. I assume static URLs to attachements is used overwhelmingly by users who link to image attachments. The party ended in 2019 we just didn’t know it. Have you considered signed-URLs 6 and a new API method that would give us the ability to create signed URLs for attachment documents? I have to believe you and the team are pondering how and when this design must change. “Security by obscurity” are often the last words any CEO remembers just before seeing the “On-Air” light flash from a chair at CNBC as they queue up Kate Fazzini 6 to drill you about a security breach. I get it - the hash-keys for any given document are unpredictable and this is the basis for claiming they are secure. Unbeknownst to most users – all attached documents in a base are openly exposed in a CDN-like environment (i.e., dl. 6 ). I (and many of my clients) have trepidation about this and it is a factor that often rules out Airtable as a choice. Related to this topic are the attachment URLs themselves (which are publicly accessible). If you’re a total geek and recognize the importance of data architectures that include binary artifacts by reference, not by value - you might enjoy this thread from about three years ago where I predicted Airtable would eventually realize their shortfalls in the attachment design.Įvan Hahn (Airtable Engineer with Deep Insight) I predicted this change in 2019 and even encouraged Airtable to weigh in on the risks associated with the idea that (a) it makes no sense to treat image URLs as immutable and sustained, and (b) that it makes no sense to assume that Airtable (a database for small systems) is also going to provide you with a globally sustained CDN for free. This has a HUGE and sadly dramatic affect on my application.
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