No-code app builder Cobuilder launched by Airtable

Airtable has announced the launch of Airtable Cobuilder, their no-code application builder. Describe what you want in words and Cobuilder turns your idea into reality, generating a customizable application in seconds. This simple no-code approach using natural language means anyone can easily build and customize intuitive apps that transform the way they work.

About Cobuilder, the no-code app builder launched by Airtable

Modern companies need customized applications that meet their individual business needs. But the status quo is no longer enough: SaaS point solutions are unstable and isolated, and developing traditional, in-house software is slow, expensive, and not flexible enough to adapt to rapidly changing business priorities.

The future is no-code

“Companies are already beginning to move away from the traditional path of buying SaaS point solutions. Within the next five years, teams will develop the vast majority of applications in-house and customize them to transform their core workflows. But to achieve this goal, knowledge workers closest to the work must be empowered to develop their own apps, regardless of their technical level,” said founder and CEO Howie Liu.

Instantly access the no-code power of Airtable

AI will bring about a fundamental change in software as we know it today. On its own, AI can be an incredibly powerful tool for software development. Combined with no-code, it opens up a whole new era of application development – ​​enabling the people working on your most important workflows to become capable app developers in seconds with the help of an intelligent AI cobuilder.

Airtable Cobuilder combines the extensive knowledge of today’s Large Language Models (LLMs) with the accessibility of Airtable’s no-code app platform to bring brand new ideas to life. It leverages the knowledge of these models across industries, use cases, and business concepts to instantly translate your desired outcome into a highly detailed app that you can then customize and optimize with a simple click.

• Easily turn ideas into apps: Users can describe their idea to Airtable Cobuilder. For example, “I’m directing the next Dune movie and I need an app to manage my pre-production before filming starts in January 2025.” This generates a preview of a custom Airtable application in seconds, allowing teams to rethink old workflows and experiment with new ways of working.
• Harnessing the power of AI: Airtable Cobuilder’s strength lies in its ability to leverage the latest generation of LLMs to create extremely personalized apps. When users provide additional details, such as the company they work for or project they are working on (Dune), the role (director), the specific requirements they need (by January 2025), or describe the workflow they want to create (manage film pre-production), Cobuilder can generate a highly specific and unique app – one that leverages the knowledge base of LLMs.
• Customizable to individual business needs: There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to business apps. After the initial generation, users can preview the app and make any necessary adjustments to make it exactly fit their needs. This is where no-code comes in handy: instead of a developer having to review, debug, and edit the code to make changes, anyone can edit the app. You can focus less on building and more on customizing, automating, and enabling the important work.
• Privacy and Security: Airtable protects the privacy and security of customer data. No customer data is used to train current or future LLMs.
• More to come: Instantly building apps without code with Cobuilder is just the beginning. We’re working toward a world where Cobuilder enables you to do all kinds of app customizations and automation as you go deeper into the work: ask Cobuilder to add a new base of provided content, generate insights at scale, create a timeline to meet deadlines, and more.
  

Describe the app you need. Cobuilder will do the rest.

Although Airtable is designed to be easy to use, getting started from scratch can be daunting—and newcomers sometimes still struggle to harness the platform’s full power when building applications for the first time.

Cobuilder enables anyone to effortlessly go from an initial idea to a complete first draft of an app. This not only accelerates the time to value for each use, but also increases the number of useful apps that can be built within an organization. Best of all, apps built with Cobuilder provide the same value as any app built with Airtable – consistent, best-in-class interfaces for the end user, structured underlying data, and logic and automation.

Other prompt examples include:

• “I need to launch a women’s skateboard shoe in time for the Olympics.”
• “Help me follow the renovations of our boutique hotels in Marrakech.”
• “I need to track the parts and production schedule for the SLS rocket system for the Artemis mission.”
  

During our beta phase, we saw widespread adoption from customers in media, technology, financial services, and retail. Thousands of applications were built with Cobuilder, marking the beginning of a new era for app development and no-code AI. And most importantly, 9 out of 10 times, the AI ​​generated something useful and impactful, which was confirmed by product feedback during the Cobuilder beta.

“Airtable’s mission is to empower new generations of developers to build the apps they need to run their businesses. We’ve built a way for citizen developers across teams to build apps that are easy to build, intuitive to use, and customizable to any business need. That’s why developers have built over 50 million apps with Airtable to date. AI now dramatically accelerates our ability to fulfill that mission. Cobuilder represents an entirely new and unique set of features around AI development that enables anyone to turn an idea into reality in seconds,” said Liu.

Cobuilder features will expand over time, such as the ability to incorporate existing data sets during app creation, chat support that can make adjustments and edit your app on your behalf at any stage of the process, and an intelligent developer assistant for users.

Transform your work with Airtable’s new AI features

Airtable continues to invest in AI across all aspects of the platform. In addition to Airtable Cobuilder, we are introducing new Airtable AI features to help teams integrate AI into their data and workflows, enabling customers to realize the transformative promise of AI in every department.

• Document Extraction: Users can now use Airtable AI to extract information from PDF documents, leveraging important data in their workflows. Later this year, this feature will support additional document types such as images, presentations, text, and audio files.
• Search and browse the web: Users will soon be able to use AI to pull data from public websites and searches, enriching their Airtable data and simplifying time-consuming research.
• New models: Airtable AI allows customers to choose which AI platforms and model developers they want to use based on their needs and preferences. Today we support OpenAI GPT models, Anthropic’s Claude models via Amazon Bedrock, and IBM’s Granite and Llama 3 models and Meta via IBM Watsonx. Airtable will continue to offer additional platforms and models to give customers even more choice.