Airtable Blocks: Managing Multiple useRecords Hooks to Prevent App Restart Loops

Other Questions Airtable
1

I’m working on a custom Airtable block application that pulls data from various tables and presents them in a cohesive manner, allowing for interactivity. I’m utilizing the useRecords hook to ensure any changes made by users are reflected live in the application. However, I’ve discovered that the application reloads multiple times, correlated with each useRecords invocation, leading to sluggish performance. How can I effectively manage this situation to maintain real-time data access without causing frequent application restarts?**

Here’s a snippet of my code:

import { initializeBlock, useBase, useRecords } from '@airtable/blocks/ui';
import React from 'react';

function CustomBlock() {
  const base = useBase();
  const dataTables = React.useMemo(() => {
    return {
      productData: base.getTableByNameIfExists(Constants.PRODUCTS_TABLE),
      pricingData: base.getTableByNameIfExists(Constants.COSTS_TABLE),
      clientData: base.getTableByNameIfExists(Constants.CONTACTS_TABLE),
      conversionData: base.getTableByNameIfExists(Constants.CONVERSIONS_TABLE),
      authorData: base.getTableByNameIfExists(Constants.CONTRIBUTORS_TABLE),
    };
  }, [base]);

  const conversions = useRecords(dataTables.conversionData);
  const authors = useRecords(dataTables.authorData);
  const pricing = useRecords(dataTables.pricingData);
  const products = useRecords(dataTables.productData);
  const clients = useRecords(dataTables.clientData);
}
2

you might want to consider looking into using useLoadable instead of useRecords for some parts of your data access. it lets you control the reloading more efficiently and can reduce unnecessary rerenders. also, ensure hooks aren’t dependent on other async operations that could trigger more reloads.

3

I’ve encountered a similar situation before. The multiple useRecords hooks can indeed trigger too many re-renders, creating those restart loops. A strategy I found useful is to debounce or throttle the hook updates, especially if data isn’t critically dependent on minute-to-minute updates. You can batch the hook or manage state updates manually by observing only for significant changes. Another approach is to combine the data from these tables via linking in Airtable beforehand, so you minimize reliance on multiple hooks. Consider using a single state object to track the changes and trigger re-renders selectively when necessary.