Running workflows for your end users

Create an OAuth client

This step is optional but strongly recommended. To securely run workflows for end users, you'll need to first create a Pipedream OAuth client. Pipedream uses OAuth to authenticate requests to the Pipedream API and workflows.

Create a workflow

Create a new workflow or open an existing one.

Add an HTTP trigger, configure OAuth

1. Add an HTTP trigger to your workflow.
2. Configure OAuth authorization on the trigger. Again, this step is optional but strongly recommended.

Configure accounts to use your end users' auth

When you configure pre-built actions or custom code that connects to third-party APIs, you can link accounts in one of two ways:

1. Use your own account: If you're connecting to an API that uses your own API key or developer account — for example, a workflow that connects to the OpenAI API or a PostgreSQL database — click the Connect account button to link your own, static account.

2. Use your end users' auth: If you're building a workflow that connects to your end users' accounts — for example, a workflow that sends a message with your user's Slack account — you can select the option to Use end user's auth via Connect:

When you trigger the workflow, Pipedream will look up the corresponding account for the end user whose user ID you provide when invoking the workflow.

Connect a test account

To run an end-to-end test as an end user, you need to have users and connected accounts in your project. If you already have a development account linked, you can skip this step.

If you don't, the fastest way to do this is on the Users tab in your Pipedream project:

• You'll see there's a button to Connect account
• Go through the flow and make sure to create the account in development mode
• Note the external user ID of the account you just connected, you'll need it in the next step

Generate a test request

Test events are critical for developing workflows effectively. Without a test event, you won't be able to test your workflow end to end in the builder, see the shape of the event data that triggers the workflow, and the lookup to use your end user's auth won't work.

To generate a test event, click Send Test Event in the trigger, and fill in the event data. This will trigger the workflow and allow you to test the workflow end to end in the builder.

Deploy your workflow

When you're done with the workflow, click Deploy at the top right.

Invoke the workflow

If you're using TypeScript or a JavaScript runtime, install the Pipedream SDK. Pipedream also provides an HTTP API for invoking workflows (see example below).

npm i @pipedream/sdk

To invoke workflows, you'll need:

1. The OAuth client ID and secret from Step 1
2. Your Project ID
3. Your workflow's HTTP endpoint URL
4. The external user ID of the user you'd like to run the workflow for
5. The Connect environment tied to the user's account

Then invoke the workflow like so:

import { createBackendClient, HTTPAuthType } from "@pipedream/sdk/server";
 
// These secrets should be saved securely and passed to your environment
const pd = createBackendClient({
  environment: "development", // change to production if running for a test production account, or in production
  credentials: {
    clientId: "{oauth_client_id}",
    clientSecret: "{oauth_client_secret}",
  },
  projectId: "{your_project_id}"
});
 
await pd.invokeWorkflowForExternalUser(
  "{your_endpoint_url}", // pass the endpoint ID or full URL here
  "{your_external_user_id}" // The end user's ID in your system
  {
    method: "POST",
    body: {
      message: "Hello World"
    }
  },
  HTTPAuthType.OAuth // Will automatically send the Authorization header with a fresh token
)