Getting 401 unauthorized error when fetching data from Airtable API

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1

I’m trying to retrieve data from my Airtable database using a GET request, but I keep getting a 401 unauthorized error even though I’m confident my API key and endpoint URL are correct.

Here’s the code I’m using:

const apiKey = 'your_api_key_here';
const baseId = 'your_base_id';
const tableName = 'your_table_name';

const requestUrl = `https://api.airtable.com/v0/${baseId}/${tableName}`;

fetch(requestUrl, {
    headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${apiKey}`
    }
})
.then(res => res.json())
.then(result => {
    console.log(result);
})
.catch(err => console.log(err));

I’ve double-checked my credentials and permissions but still can’t figure out what’s causing this authentication issue. Has anyone encountered this problem before?

2

CORS restrictions blindsided me when testing API calls from the frontend. Airtable blocks cross-origin requests from browsers, so you’ll get what looks like 401 errors but they’re actually CORS blocks. Had to move everything to the backend.

Also check if you’ve got multiple Airtable accounts - I was using my personal credentials while trying to hit a work base. The error messages don’t tell you this, so it just shows up as a generic auth failure even though your credentials work fine.

3

check if your workspace admin recently disabled API access. same thing happened to me last week - everything worked fine, then suddenly 401s everywhere. our admin had locked down external API calls without telling anyone. also try regenerating your token - sometimes they get corrupted for no reason.

4

I’ve debugged this exact issue more times than I can count. The 401 error usually happens when the API key format is wrong or you’re hitting rate limits.

First - make sure you’re using the new personal access tokens, not the old API keys. The old ones are getting phased out and cause intermittent auth failures.

Second, double-check your base ID. I once spent 3 hours debugging this only to find I’d copied the wrong base ID from the URL. Should start with “app” followed by random characters.

Try adding a small delay between requests if you’re making multiple calls. Airtable has strict rate limiting and sometimes returns 401 instead of 429 when you hit the limits.

If you’re using scoped tokens, make sure the scope includes the specific base and table you’re accessing. I’ve seen tokens work for one base but fail for another because of scope restrictions.

Try logging the full response object instead of just the parsed JSON. Sometimes the error message gives better clues about what’s actually failing.

5

Check your endpoint URL structure first. I hit this same error when I had extra spaces or characters in my base ID or table name variables. URL construction is tricky - watch for trailing slashes or weird encoded characters.

Case sensitivity got me too. Airtable’s strict about exact matches, so if your table’s “Customer Data” but you’re using “customer data” in the API call, you’ll get a 401 even with valid credentials.

Try hardcoding the values directly in your fetch request first. Once that works, trace backwards to find where the issue’s coming from.

6

Had the same problem - it’s usually how you format the API key. Bearer tokens should work, but I switched to Airtable’s legacy auth and that fixed it instantly. Try changing your Authorization header to ‘Authorization’: 'Bearer ’ + apiKey or just test with ‘Authorization’: apiKey (no Bearer prefix). Also check if your base has restricted API access in workspace settings. Mine got locked down by an admin and I had no clue. Spent hours debugging before I realized the workspace permissions changed. Make sure you’re using a personal access token instead of the old API key too - Airtable’s been updating their auth system.