A web database with formulas

Database for the agentic era

Simple, elegant and beautiful — like the interfaces from before AI was plastered all over competitors (Airtable, for example). A live grid, typed columns, spreadsheet-compatible formulas: a web database you actually use. All of the AI powers live directly in the Agents you already use: Claude, ChatGPT, OpenClaw, Hermes. MCP is the AI surface, entirely outside the product. No copilot. No AI credits to buy.

Free during beta. No card. MCP in one paste — bips.ai/mcp

Nametext Categoryselect Areatext Paramsnumber
create_tableWritetable4
run_queryReadquery3
save_versionWritehistory2
undoDestructivehistory1
migrate_airtableWriteairtable3
Over MCP, from the Agents you already use
Build the base I'm running this launch from: the channel plan with dates, the pre-flight list, and every MCP tool as a row. → create_base · Show HN launch → create_table · Launch plan · 6 columns, 8 rows → create_table · Pre-flight · 4 columns, 13 rows → create_table · MCP tools · 6 columns, 67 rows → create_view · Calendar · Open · By category · Tools by area Three tables, five views. The tools table is grouped read / write / destructive, and the pre-flight view hides what's done.
Why people start

A simple human web surface. Built for the agentic era.

The grid is a first-class human surface — you open it, you type, formulas compute. No in-product AI chrome to buy. MCP is fully externalized: there is no in-product copilot, and there are no AI credits to purchase. All of the AI powers attach to Claude, ChatGPT, OpenClaw, Hermes and the rest, on the subscription you already pay for.

The web

A database you actually use

Typed columns, links, views, forms, history. Spreadsheet-compatible formulas that compute on read. A grid your team edits together, live, with cursors — whether or not an assistant is connected.

The web surface is the product, not a preview of what the assistant just built.

MCP

The AI surface is entirely external

67 tools covering the whole product — tables, columns, views, forms, automations, comments, undo. Your assistant creates the table and fills it, through MCP, not through a sidebar we sold you.

It can undo itself: save_version before it starts, undo when you hate the result.

No credits

Use the Agents you already pay for

There is no AI inside Base and nothing extra to meter. No copilot, no sparkle icons, no credit pack on top of Claude, ChatGPT, OpenClaw, Hermes or Grok.

Automations keep firing when you're asleep and your assistant isn't running. People who have never heard of MCP can still fill a form.

Connecting

MCP is how your agent talks to Base.

Model Context Protocol is the AI surface, entirely outside the product: a standard so Claude, ChatGPT, OpenClaw, Hermes and the rest can use Base as a tool. You paste one URL into the assistant you already pay for. You approve it once. There is no in-product copilot, no sparkle overlay, no API key, and no AI credits to buy.

The URL

Paste this into your assistant.

https://bips.ai/mcp

Click to select, or Copy. Same URL for every agent that speaks MCP. There is no API key to create, paste, or leak.

Read the setup guide Starter prompts The guide covers Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, and anything else that speaks MCP.
Step one

Add the connector

Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. ChatGPT: Settings → Connectors → Add. OpenClaw, Hermes, Grok, or Gemini: the same URL.

Step two

Approve it once

Your assistant opens AuthKit. You sign in and approve, like any other connector. WorkOS issues the token; Base verifies it. You can revoke it any time.

Step three

Ask it to work

67 tools covering tables, columns, views, forms, automations, comments, undo. It can save_version before it starts and undo when you hate the result.

Ask in SQL

Questions answered in one call, not forty pages

Every table is a typed, read-only SQL view. Your assistant writes a SELECT and gets the answer, instead of paging thousands of records through its context to count them.

Read-only is enforced four independent ways. Writes stay on the typed tools, where validation and history live.

Your rules

It can only do what you let it

There is no AI inside Base. Scoped access, field-level permissions, and a full change log of every write with the actor attached. Everything an assistant does is attributable and reversible.

Branching undo means a bad instruction is a step backwards, not a restore from backup.

The database underneath

Strong enough to run on when the assistant is closed.

It is an Airtable-class database — live cursors, branching undo, time travel, formulas computed on read. A small team; the infrastructure is not.

Field types
25 types — 18 stored, 7 computed. Link, lookup, rollup, count and reverse-link across tables.
Formulas
Spreadsheet-compatible, with cross-table references and a real evaluation engine. Computed on read, never stale.
Realtime
Multi-user editing with presence and live cursors. Paste from a spreadsheet and it lands as one undoable step.
History
Branching undo, named versions, and time travel to any instant.
Interfaces
Pages of blocks over your views, forms and automations — charts, numbers, filters, record detail, action buttons.
Forms
Form per table with conditional logic, public links, bot filtering and a submissions inbox.
Automations
Signed webhooks on row and form events, with a delivery log and retries.
Integrations
One-click connectors from a curated directory. We enable a whitelist of apps; the rest of the catalog stays off until we add them.
API
REST with scoped keys, the same validation path as everything else.
Import & export
CSV in and out, and one-click import from Airtable.
Switching

Already running this on Airtable?

Base is an Airtable-class database, so the model you know comes with you — tables, fields, links, views, formulas. Paste a read-only token and a base ID and the copy takes about a minute.

One click

Your base moves. Your Airtable base stays exactly where it is.

Migration reads, never writes, so you can run both while you decide. Seventeen field types map directly with their options intact. We tell you plainly what doesn't come across — computed fields arrive as values, and views need rebuilding.

Read the migration guide Compare the MCP servers Both pages list the limitations before the benefits.
Pricing

Free while Base is in beta.

Base is free during the beta, no card required: unlimited bases, editors, viewers and agents, forms, automations, history, MCP, and the Airtable migration. We are using the beta to gather feedback and usage data before we settle on a pricing model, and every account will hear from us before anything changes. Nothing is gated or counted today: editors, viewers, form submitters and agents all come with it.

Beta
$0
while Base is in beta, no card
  • Unlimited bases, editors and viewers
  • Airtable migration included
  • Forms, automations, history, MCP
  • Your data exports by CSV or REST, any time
Sign up
Large or regulated teams
Talk to us
book a meeting
  • A single base over 100,000 rows
  • SSO and directory sync
  • Audit log and longer history
  • Compliance questions, answered honestly
Book a meeting

A single base over 100,000 rows: email us first. Reads get expensive at that size and we would rather talk it through than find out together. Email us.

Simple terms

Free during the beta, with notice before that changes. Cancel any time; your data leaves by CSV or REST whenever you want it.

Before you commit

What Base doesn’t have yet.

You'd find this out in week two anyway. Better now, from us.

  • No compliance packet. Single sign-on works. There is no SOC 2 report and no HIPAA BAA. If your security review gates on either, we are not ready — but we want to hear from you, so we can tell whether the demand is there to do it. Email us.
  • Your assistant will occasionally get it wrong. That's why every write is attributable, versioned and undoable — but it's a real thing to plan for, not something we'll pretend away.
  • It's a small team. Weigh that. It runs on big cloud infrastructure. Your data is exportable from day one, by three different routes, without asking us.
Two minutes, including the OAuth

Start a base. This is the database for the agentic era.