Example: Create a Workflow

Here, we’ll walk through an example of how to create a workflow programmatically using the create workflow endpoint from a workflow share link, and pass your own connected accounts, step and trigger props as configuration.

Before you begin, you’ll need your Pipedream API Key.

Creating a new workflow from a template

Workflows can be shared as templates using a Workflow Share Link. When you share a workflow, a unique key is created that represents that workflow’s triggers, steps and settings.

However, opening workflow share link with a browser will not include sharing private resources - such as connected accounts, sources and data stores. Connections to your private resources have to be populated by hand.

The create workflow endpoint allows you to programmatically assign your own connected accounts, props within the workflow, and even deploy the workflow in a single API request.

First, you’ll need a workflow template. To create a new workflow template, follow this short guide.

A workflow share link has the following format:

https://pipedream.com/new?h=tch_abc123

The tch_abc123 portion of the URL represents the unique workflow template ID. Copy this, you’ll need it in the following steps.

You can create workflows from any workflow template

You’re not limited to creating new workflows from your own templates, you can create your own workflows using this endpoint with any workflow share link.

This guide will also work for any workflow share link, although we recommend copying the workflow to your account first so you can view the workflow’s available configurable props.

Create the workflow, and view the parameters

You’ll need to view the original workflow’s configuration so you can identify the props you’ll need to provide for the new version of the workflow.

Use the Get Workflow endpoint to retrieve the details about the workflow you’ve created a template for.

In the Get Workflow API response, you’ll see two properties:

triggers - represents the triggers for the workflow.
steps - represents the series of steps within your workflow

triggers and steps contain props that define the connected accounts as well as configuration.

The next step is to learn how we can pass our specific connected accounts to app based props in the steps and/or triggers of the workflow template.

Within the steps and triggers, find the configurable_props for the trigger. Here is where you can find the available slots that you can programmtically provide configuration for the Create Workflow endpoint:

// Example of a Get Workflow response
{
  "triggers": [
    {
      "id": "dc_abc123",
      "configurable_props": [
        {
          "name": "url",
          "type": "string"
        }
      ],
      "configured_props": {},
      "active": true,
      "created_at": 1707170044,
      "updated_at": 1707170044,
      "name": "New Item in Feed",
      "name_slug": "new-item-in-feed"
    },
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "namespace": "send_message",
      "lang": "nodejs20.x",
      "component": true,
      "savedComponent": {
        "id": "sc_abc123",
        "configurableProps": [
          {
            "name": "slack",
            "type": "app",
            "app": "slack"
          },
          {
            "name": "channelId",
            "type": "string"
          },
          {
            "name": "message",
            "type": "string"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

For the example workflow above, the RSS feed trigger has a url property, and the Slack step as a slack, channelId and message property. We’ll use these names in the next steps as arguments for the Create Workflow endpoint.

Design the payload

Now that we have the names of the configurable props for both the triggers and steps of the workflow, let’s design the payload for creating a new instance of the workflow.

First, populate the project_id and org_id where you’d like this new workflow to be instantiated under. Please refer to the Create Workflow parameters documentation on how to find these values.

The template_id for your workflow can be found from the URL of the workflow share link you created in Step 1 of this guide.

The trigger as a url prop, so let’s provide it with a specific URL (https://hnrss.org/newest?q=Pipedream) for this new workflow:

// Example of a Create Workflow request payload
{
  "project_id": "proj_abc123",
  "org_id": "o_abc123",
  "template_id": "tch_abc123",
  "triggers": [
    {
      "props": {
        "url": "https://hnrss.org/newest?q=Pipedream"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Triggers are addressable by index

You may have noticed that we didn’t include the namespace argument to the trigger in our payload. This is because triggers are ordered sequentially, whereas steps need a namespace argument for proper addressing.

If we were to send this payload to the Create Workflow endpoint now, it will populate the RSS - New Item in Feed trigger with the feed we provided.

You can also populate the steps props.

The Slack - Send message in a Public Channel step requires a channelId, message and the connected Slack account (slack). Let’s start with connecting the Slack account.

Find your connected accounts

To connect your accounts to the workflow, you’ll need to find the specific IDs for each of the accounts you’d like to connect.

You can find your connected account IDs by using the List Accounts endpoint.

You can filter your accounts by using the query query parameter. For example, if you want to find your connected Slack accounts to your workspace, then add slack to the query param:

GET /workspaces/<workspace_id>/accounts?query=slack

This request will narrow down the results to your connected Slack accounts, for easier finding.

You’ll need the ID of each connected account you’d like to configure this new workflow with. Copy down the apn_****** value of the connected accounts from the response you’d like to use for the steps.

{
  "page_info": {
    "total_count": 1,
    "count": 1,
    "start_cursor": "YXBuXzJrVmhMUg",
    "end_cursor": "YXBuXzJrVmhMUg"
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "apn_abc123",
      "name": "Slack Pipedream Workspace"
    }
  ]
}

Now we can copy the ID for our Slack account from the response: apn_abc123.

Given we now have the connected account ID, we can design the rest of the payload:

{
  "project_id": "proj_abc123",
  "org_id": "o_abc123",
  "template_id": "tch_3BXfWO",
  "triggers": [
    {
      "props": {
        "url": "https://hnrss.org/newest?q=Pipedream"
      }
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "namespace": "send_message",
      "props": {
        "slack": {
          "authProvisionId": "apn_abc123",
        }
        "channelId": "U12356",
        "message": "**New HackerNews Mention** \n \n {{steps.trigger.event.item.title}} \n {{steps.trigger.event.item.description}}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Our payload now instructs Pipedream to set up the send_message step in our workflow with our connected Slack account and specific channelId and message parameters.

Define settings (optional)

You can also define workflow settings such as the workflows, name, allocated memory, or if it should be deployed immediately:

{
  "project_id": "proj_abc123",
  "org_id": "o_abc123",
  "template_id": "tch_3BXfWO",
  "triggers": [
    {
      "props": {
        "url": "https://hnrss.org/newest?q=Pipedream"
      }
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "namespace": "send_message",
      "props": {
        "slack": {
          "authProvisionId": "apn_abc123",
        }
        "channelId": "U12356",
        "message": "**New HackerNews Mention** \n \n {{steps.trigger.event.item.title}} \n {{steps.trigger.event.item.description}}"
      }
    }
  ],
  "settings": {
    "name": "New HackerNews Mentions to Slack",
    "auto_deploy": true
  }
}

The auto_deploy option instructs Pipedream to deploy this workflow automatically, without requiring a manual deployment from the dashboard.

Send the request

Finally, send the request to create this new workflow with this payload we’ve designed.

You should see the new workflow within your Pipedream dashboard under the workspace and project defined in the payload.

You can use this request to dynamically create new instances of the same workflow with different props, connected accounts and settings.

Authentication Example: Create an RSS source