How Can I Correctly Propagate External User IDs in Pipedream Connect Workflow's Event.Context?

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1

This topic was automatically generated from Slack. You can find the original thread here.

Hi everyone, I need some help with Pipedream Connect and external user IDs.
I’m trying to deploy a trigger programmatically and associate it with an external user. I’ve run into an issue where the external_user_id never seems to propagate into the workflow’s event.context. Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

  1. Using webhook_url
    • I deployed the trigger with the workflow’s unique url as the webhook_url.
    • When the external event fires, the request does reach the workflow and it executes.
    • Problem: event.context.external_user_id is always null.
    • I also tried sending the external user ID in headers during deploy, but it still stays null.
  2. Using workflow_id
    • I switched to deploying the trigger with workflow_id instead of webhook_url.
    • This time, the trigger deploys fine, but when the event fires, the workflow never runs at all — the request doesn’t even seem to reach the workflow.
    • I’m guessing I may be misunderstanding how to route events when using workflow_id (e.g. should I be calling the trigger URL returned from the deploy response instead of the workflow run URL?).
    My deploy code
    Here’s the snippet I’m using:

const response = await [axios.post](http://axios.post)(
  `https://api.pipedream.com/v1/connect/${process.env.PIPEDREAM_PROJECT_ID}/triggers/deploy`,
  {
    id: componentId,
    external_user_id: userId,
    configured_props: configuredProps,
    // Tried both webhook_url and workflow_id here
    webhook_url: "https://secret.m.pipedream.net"
    // workflow_id: workflow.id
  },
  {
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${accessToken}`,
      "x-pd-environment": process.env.PIPEDREAM_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
  }
);

What I expected
• When using external_user_id in the deploy payload, I expected the workflow executions to include that user ID in event.context.external_user_id.
• I’ve followed the docs and the community thread here
• , but I’m still stuck.
Has anyone else run into this mismatch where webhook_url works but drops the external user, while workflow_id doesn’t trigger the workflow at all?

Any insights, examples, or working code snippets would be hugely appreciated!

2

Sounds like you should use workflow_id and not webhook_url

3

webhook_url is when your system is external to Pipedream and you want the trigger to trigger it

4

But it’s odd that your workflow is not being triggered, is your source emitting events?

5

Oh and the external_user_id won’t be present in the workflow trigger context, it will be injected automatically into the steps that are enabled to use external user auth

6

The problem is that when i deploy a trigger using REST api with webhook url, it is deployed and when a trigger event happens it also triggers the workflow associated but the workflow requires external_user_id to run, but in the context extenal_user_id is null every time.

7

When i send workflow_id in payload instead of webhook_url , the trigger is still deploying but it never triggers the workflow on trigger event

8

The problem is that when i deploy a trigger using REST api with webhook url, it is deployed and when a trigger event happens it also triggers the workflow associated but the workflow requires external_user_id to run, but in the context extenal_user_id is null every time.
Correct, but that is not the way it is intended to be used. Although we have received requests for sending the extenal_user_id in the trigger payload

9

cc ^^^

10

When i send workflow_id in payload instead of webhook_url , the trigger is still deploying but it never triggers the workflow on trigger event
What is the payload you’re sending to deploy the trigger?

11 
{
    id: componentId,
    external_user_id: userId,
    configured_props: configuredProps,
    // Tried both webhook_url and workflow_id here
    webhook_url: "https://secret.m.pipedream.net"
    // workflow_id: workflow.id
},
12

Hmm looks correct. What is your workflow ID? So I can take a look at it

13

Here it is p_ZJCPaAB

14

Also if this is not the intended way, what is?

15

Using the HTTP webhook URL in Pipedream as webhook_url is not the intended way

16

It’s intended for external services (like your server)

17

To run workflows, the intended way is to use workflow_id

18

I followed the docs,

image.png
image.png1113×373 144 KB

19

Ok so at your workflow, there are incoming events, but they get this error:

PD Connect Error
No external user ID passed, but one or more steps require it. Refer to https://pipedream.com/docs/connect/workflows#invoke-the-workflow for more info.
20

Exactly!