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ZeroWidth

Napkin and Airtable

Napkin or Airtable?

Airtable is a deep database for building apps on top of your records. Napkin gives your team tables with grid, board and form views, right next to the flows, Tasks and pages that act on them.

In Airtable

Warranty requests

Airtable base · 3 tables · 2 automations

Requests link to Customers and Products.

A form adds a record, and an automation emails the claims team.

An interface shows open requests by status.

In Napkin

Warranty requests

  • Form viewShared by link
  • Board grouped by StatusView
  • Triage new requestsTask starts on each record
  • Coverage check pageInterface

The Task writes its answer back to the record

Where the two part ways.

  1. 1

    New records start real work

    A Workbench Task can start when a record is added or changes, run a flow, ask a person to approve, and write the result back to the record.

  2. 2

    Pages people can click, from a description

    Describe an intake page or a triage screen, and Napkin builds an interface that can read and add records in the table you grant it.

  3. 3

    Tables live beside the working-out

    A table is a tab in a Napkin sheet, so the records and the formulas, charts and SQL that work on them sit in one file.

  4. 4

    Forms with no account

    Share a form view by link, and each answer adds one record. People who fill it in see only the fields you chose.

  5. 5

    Zero reads and fills tables

    Zero can create a table, query it, add and update records, and answer questions about the numbers with SQL.

When Napkin is the right choice

  • You keep shared lists like requests, vendors or bugs.
  • Each new record should start a flow or a Task your team built in Workbench.
  • You want an intake form or a page people can click without an account.
  • You want the list next to the sketches, decks and docs about the same work.

Job by job

Forms

Airtable: Forms and interfaces you can share with people outside the team.

Napkin: A form view shared by link adds one record per answer, with no account.

Acting on new records

Airtable: Automations, and AI steps that run inside them.

Napkin: A Workbench Task starts on a new or changed record and can write back to it.

Building apps

Airtable: Interface Designer, with Omni building layouts from a description.

Napkin: Napkin interfaces built from a description, granted read, add or edit access to a table.

Agents

Airtable: Omni, Field Agents and an official MCP server.

Napkin: Zero creates, queries and updates tables, and every table is reachable over MCP.

Keep the system of record in Airtable. Do the work in ZeroWidth.

Teams with a deep Airtable base can keep it, and let Zero and Workbench act on it from the ZeroWidth side.

  • Connect Airtable's MCP server, and Zero can read records and update them with your approval.
  • Export a view as CSV and import it as a Napkin table, where each column type is read from its values.
  • Use a Napkin table for the small lists that feed a Workbench Task, and keep the big base where it is.

Questions

Can people outside the company add records?
Yes. Share a form view by link, and each answer adds a record. They can't see or change anyone else's.
Can I get my data out?
Yes. Export any tab as CSV or the whole sheet as an Excel file.

Try Napkin with your domain.

Start with the request list your team keeps in a spreadsheet today.

No website? Describe what you do

If you'd like help with the first changes, talk to us.