Airtable: Remove Image Backgrounds Automatically with a Run-Script Automation

Airtable attachment fields expose a URL for each file, but those URLs expire a couple of hours after they are generated. The API fetches image_url server-side at request time, so as long as the script reads the URL and calls the API in the same run, expiry never bites. In JSON mode the API returns a hosted result URL (valid 24 hours); writing that URL into an attachment field makes Airtable download and store the file permanently. Two fields are needed on your table: Photo (attachment, the input) and Cutout (attachment, the output).

Automation trigger: "When record matches conditions" — Photo is not empty AND Cutout is empty. Action: "Run script". In the script's Input variables panel add recordId (the triggering record's Airtable record ID) and apiKey (your bgclear key). Airtable has no secret store for automation scripts, so an input variable is the least-bad place; anyone who can edit the automation can read it, so use a key you can rotate from the dashboard.

const { recordId, apiKey } = input.config();
const table = base.getTable("Products");
const record = await table.selectRecordAsync(recordId, { fields: ["Photo", "Cutout"] });

const photo = record?.getCellValue("Photo")?.[0];
const done = record?.getCellValue("Cutout")?.length;
if (!photo || done) { output.set("status", "skipped"); return; }

const res = await fetch("https://www.bgclear.ai/api/v1/remove", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}`,
    Accept: "application/json",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "Idempotency-Key": `airtable-${photo.id}`,          // re-runs never double-charge
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ image_url: photo.url, size: "auto", format: "png" }),
});
const data = await res.json();
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`bgclear ${res.status} ${data.error?.code}: ${data.error?.message}`);

await table.updateRecordAsync(recordId, {
  Cutout: [{ url: data.url, filename: photo.filename.replace(/\.[^.]+$/, "") + "-cutout.png" }],
});
output.set("status", `done, credits remaining ${data.credits_remaining}`);

Airtable fetches the result URL when it stores the attachment, well inside the 24-hour window. For marketplace-ready white backgrounds, send format: "jpg", bg_color: "ffffff" and name the file .jpg.

For a table that already has hundreds of photos, run this once from the Scripting extension (Extensions → Scripting). It paces requests under the API's 60-per-minute limit and updates records in batches of 50, which is Airtable's write limit per call.

const apiKey = "bgc_live_PASTE_YOUR_KEY";               // remove before sharing the base
const table = base.getTable("Products");
const query = await table.selectRecordsAsync({ fields: ["Photo", "Cutout"] });
const size = "auto";                                    // "preview" = free dry run

const updates = [];
for (const record of query.records) {
  const photo = record.getCellValue("Photo")?.[0];
  if (!photo || record.getCellValue("Cutout")?.length) continue;

  const res = await fetch("https://www.bgclear.ai/api/v1/remove", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}`, Accept: "application/json",
               "Content-Type": "application/json", "Idempotency-Key": `airtable-${photo.id}` },
    body: JSON.stringify({ image_url: photo.url, size, format: "png" }),
  });
  const data = await res.json();
  if (res.status === 429) { await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 5000)); continue; }
  if (res.status === 402) { output.text("Out of credits — https://www.bgclear.ai/api-pricing/"); break; }
  if (!res.ok) { output.text(`${record.name}: ${data.error?.message}`); continue; }

  updates.push({ id: record.id, fields: { Cutout: [{ url: data.url, filename: "cutout.png" }] } });
  if (updates.length === 50) { await table.updateRecordsAsync(updates.splice(0)); }
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1100));          // ≤60 requests/minute
}
if (updates.length) await table.updateRecordsAsync(updates);
output.text("Done.");

Set size = "preview" first: it is free, returns 800 px results, and shows you edge quality on your own product photos before any credit is spent.

One credit per full-resolution image — $9 for 100, $39 for 500, $129 for 2,000; credits never expire, previews are free, failed requests are never charged (pricing). Airtable's own limits: automation scripts get 30 seconds of run time (one image fits comfortably; the bulk job belongs in the Scripting extension), and attachments larger than 25 MB should be resized before upload since that is the API's cap. If you previously used a remove.bg-based Airtable script, the JSON body is the same and remove.bg's API ends on 1 December 2026 — what changes. The same pattern works in Google Sheets with Apps Script and in n8n, Zapier and Make.