Airtable script 50-fetch limit: send 100 records as one bulk run
An Airtable automation script gets 50 fetches and a 30-second timeout. One Sume bulk-run request carries up to 100 items, so one fetch beats a per-record loop.

Send the records as one POST .../bulk-runs request: Sume accepts 1 to 100 items per queue, so a single fetch covers a batch that a per-record loop would need up to 100 fetches for. Airtable's page says scripts can make 50 fetch requests, so a loop over 100 records cannot finish in one script run.
Sume facts are from the Bulk runs docs; the Airtable limits were read 2026-09-30.
What are the script limits?
Airtable states: “Scripts can make 50 fetch requests and 30 selectRecords queries,” “Fetch will timeout after 30 seconds,” and the output API can return at most 6MB.
| Approach | Fetches for 100 records | Fits 50? |
|---|---|---|
| One submit per record | 100, plus any polling | No |
| One bulk-runs request | 1 | Yes |
| One poll of the queue | 1 per check | Yes, if you keep count |
What does the single request look like?
The body holds concurrency (1 to 16) and an items array of 1 to 100 run bodies. Each item needs at least one of instruction, input, previous_run_id or attachments. A bad item fails the whole create with 400 invalid_request and details.index, and nothing is dispatched.
curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/formats/acme/product-promo/bulk-runs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: airtable-batch-001" \
-d '{"concurrency":3,"items":[{"instruction":"clip 1"},{"instruction":"clip 2"}]}'How do I follow the queue without burning fetches?
Do not poll inside the same script. Save the returned queue id, then check GET /v1/format-run-queues/{queue_id} from a later automation run, or give each item a communication.webhook_url so results come to you. The queue itself has no webhook.
Can I re-run the script safely?
Yes if you keep the Idempotency-Key for that batch: replaying a spent key returns 202 with the old queue. Mint a fresh key when you mean a new batch.
Sources
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