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Zapier
Zapier Platform CLI

Travis npm version

Zapier is a platform for creating integrations and workflows. This CLI is your gateway to creating custom applications on the Zapier platform.

These docs are available here, the CLI docs are available here, and you can view all the schema definitions here.

Table of Contents

Getting Started

What is an App?

A CLI App is an implementation of your app's API. You build a Node.js application that exports a single object (JSON Schema) and upload it to Zapier. Zapier introspects that definition to find out what your app is capable of and what options to present end users in the Zap Editor.

For those not familiar with Zapier terminology, here is how concepts in the CLI map to the end user experience:

  • Authentication, (usually) which lets us know what credentials to ask users for. This is used during the "Connect Accounts" section of the Zap Editor.
  • Triggers, which read data from your API. These have their own section in the Zap Editor.
  • Creates, which send data to your API to create new records. These are listed under "Actions" in the Zap Editor.
  • Searches, which find specific records in your system. These are also listed under "Actions" in the Zap Editor.
  • Resources, which define an object type in your API (say a contact) and the operations available to perform on it. These are automatically extracted into Triggers, Searches, and Creates.

How does the CLI Platform Work

Zapier takes the App you upload and sends it over to Amazon Web Service's Lambda. We then make calls to execute the operations your App defines as we execute Zaps. Your App takes the input data we provide (if any), makes the necessary HTTP calls, and returns the relevant data, which gets fed back into Zapier.

CLI vs the Web Builder Platform

From a user perspective, both the CLI and the existing web builder platform offer the same experience. The biggest difference is how they're developed. The CLI takes a much more code-first approach, allowing you to develop your Zapier app just like you would any other programming project. The web builder, on the other hand, is much better for folks who want to make an app with minimal coding involved. Both will continue to coexist, so pick whichever fits your needs best!

Requirements

All Zapier CLI apps are run using Node.js v6.10.2.

You can develop using any version of Node you'd like, but your code has to run on Node v6.10.2. You can accomplish this by developing on your preferred version and then transpiling with Babel (or similar).

To ensure stability for our users, we also require that you run your tests on v6.10.2 as well. If you don't have it available, we recommend using either nvm or n to install v6.10.2 and run the tests locally. On Windows you can use nvm-windows or nodist.

For NVM on Mac (via homebrew):

brew install nvm
nvm install v6.10.2

You can then either swap to that version with nvm use v6.10.2, or do nvm exec v6.10.2 zapier test so you can run tests without having to switch versions while developing.

Quick Setup Guide

Be sure to check the Requirements before you start! Also, we recommend the Tutorial for a more thorough introduction.

First up is installing the CLI and setting up your auth to create a working "Zapier Example" application. It will be private to you and visible in your live Zap editor.

# install the CLI globally
npm install -g zapier-platform-cli

# setup auth to Zapier's platform with a deploy key
zapier login

Your Zapier CLI should be installed and ready to go at this point. Next up, we'll create our first app!

# create a directory with the minimum required files
zapier init example-app

# move into the new directory
cd example-app

# install all the libraries needed for your app
npm install

Note: there are plenty of templates & example apps to choose from! View all Example Apps here.

You should now have a working local app. You can run several local commands to try it out.

# run the local tests
# the same as npm test, but adds some extra things to the environment
zapier test

Next, you'll probably want to upload app to Zapier itself so you can start testing live.

# push your app to Zapier
zapier push

Go check out our full CLI reference documentation to see all the other commands!

Tutorial

For a full tutorial, head over to our wiki for a comprehensive walkthrough for creating your first app. If this isn't your first rodeo, read on!

Creating a Local App

Tip: check the Quick Setup if this is your first time u 10BC8 sing the platform!

Creating an App can be done entirely locally and they are fairly simple Node.js apps using the standard Node environment and should be completely testable. However, a local app stays local until you zapier register.

# make your folder
mkdir zapier-example
cd zapier-example

# create the needed files from a template
zapier init . --template=trigger

# install all the libraries needed for your app
npm install

If you'd like to manage your local App, use these commands:

  • zapier init . --template=resource - initialize/start a local app project (see templates here)
  • zapier convert 1234 . - initialize/start from an existing app (alpha)
  • zapier scaffold resource Contact - auto-injects a new resource, trigger, etc.
  • zapier test - run the same tests as npm test
  • zapier validate - ensure your app is valid
  • zapier describe - print some helpful information about your app

Local Project Structure

In your app's folder, you should see this general recommended structure. The index.js is Zapier's entry point to your app. Zapier expects you to export an App definition there.

$ tree .
.
├── README.md
├── index.js
├── package.json
├── triggers
│   └── contact-by-tag.js
├── resources
│   └── Contact.js
├── test
│   ├── basic.js
│   ├── triggers.js
│   └── resources.js
├── build
│   └── build.zip
└── node_modules
    ├── ...
    └── ...

Local App Definition

The core definition of your App will look something like this, and is what your index.js should provide as the only export:

const App = {
  // both version strings are required
  version: require('./package.json').version,
  platformVersion: require('zapier-platform-core').version,

  // see "Authentication" section below
  authentication: {},

  // see "Dehydration" section below
  hydrators: {},

  // see "Making HTTP Requests" section below
  requestTemplate: {},
  beforeRequest: [],
  afterResponse: [],

  // See "Resources" section below
  resources: {},

  // See "Triggers/Searches/Creates" section below
  triggers: {},
  searches: {},
  creates: {}
};

module.exports = App;

Tip: you can use higher order functions to create any part of your App definition!

Registering an App

Registering your App with Zapier is a necessary first step which only enables basic administrative functions. It should happen before zapier push which is to used to actually expose an App Version in the Zapier interface and editor.

# register your app
zapier register "Zapier Example"

# list your apps
zapier apps

Note: this doesn't put your app in the editor - see the docs on pushing an App Version to do that!

If you'd like to manage your App, use these commands:

  • zapier apps - list the apps in Zapier you can administer
  • zapier register "Name" - creates a new app in Zapier
  • zapier link - lists and links a selected app in Zapier to your current folder
  • zapier history - print the history of your app
  • zapier collaborate [user@example.com] - add admins to your app who can push
  • zapier invite [user@example.com] [1.0.0] - add users to try your app version 1.0.0 before promotion

Deploying an App Version

An App Version is related to a specific App but is an "immutable" implementation of your app. This makes it easy to run multiple versions for multiple users concurrently. By default, every App Version is private but you can zapier promote it to production for use by over 1 million Zapier users.

# push your app version to Zapier
zapier push

# list your versions
zapier versions

If you'd like to manage your Version, use these commands:

  • zapier versions - list the versions for the current directory's app
  • zapier push - push the current version of current directory's app & version (read from package.json)
  • zapier promote [1.0.0] - mark a version as the "production" version
  • zapier migrate [1.0.0] [1.0.1] [100%] - move users between versions, regardless of deployment status
  • zapier deprecate [1.0.0] [YYYY-MM-DD] - mark a version as deprecated, but let users continue to use it (we'll email them)
  • zapier env 1.0.0 [KEY] [value] - set an environment variable to some value

Note: To see the changes that were just pushed reflected in the browser, you have to manually refresh the browser each time you push.

Private App Version (default)

A simple zapier push will only create the App Version in your editor. No one else using Zapier can see it or use it.

Sharing an App Version

This is how you would share your app with friends, co-workers or clients. This is perfect for quality assurance, testing with active users or just sharing any app you like.

# sends an email this user to let them view the app version 1.0.0 in the UI privately
zapier invite user@example.com 1.0.0

# sends an email this user to let them admin the app (make changes just like you)
zapier collaborate user@example.com

You can also invite anyone on the internet to your app by observing the URL at the bottom of zapier invite, it should look something like https://zapier.com/platform/public-invite/1/222dcd03aed943a8676dc80e2427a40d/. You can put this in your help docs, post it to Twitter, add it to your email campaign, etc. Note this will invite users to every app version.

Promoting an App Version

Promotion is how you would share your app with every one of the 1 million+ Zapier users. If this is your first time promoting - you may have to wait for the Zapier team to review and approve your app.

If this isn't the first time you've promoted your app - you might have users on older versions. You can zapier migrate to either move users over (which can be dangerous if you have breaking changes). Or, you can zapier deprecate to give users some time to move over themselves.

# promote your app version to all Zapier users
zapier promote 1.0.1

# OPTIONAL - migrate your users between one app version to another
zapier migrate 1.0.0 1.0.1

# OR - mark the old version as deprecated
zapier deprecate 1.0.0 2017-01-01

Converting an Existing App

If you have an existing Web Builder app on Zapier Developer Platform you can use it as a template to kickstart your local application.

# Convert an existing Web Builder app to a CLI app in the my-app directory
# App ID 1234 is from URL https://zapier.com/developer/builder/app/1234/development
zapier convert 1234 my-app

Your CLI app will be created and you can continue working on it.

Since v3.3.0, zapier convert has been improved a lot. But this is still in an alpha state - you'll likely have to edit the code to make it work.

Note - there is no way to convert a CLI app to a Web Builder app and we do not plan on implementing this.

Authentication

Most applications require some sort of authentication - and Zapier provides a handful of methods for helping your users authenticate with your application. Zapier will provide some of the core behaviors, but you'll likely need to handle the rest.

Hint: You can access the data tied to your authentication via the bundle.authData property in any method called in your app. Exceptions exist in OAuth and Session auth. Please see them below.

Basic

Useful if your app requires two pieces of information to authentication: username and password which only the end user can provide. By default, Zapier will do the standard Basic authentication base64 header encoding for you (via an automatically registered middleware).

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-basic-auth for a working example app for basic auth.

Note: if you do the common API Key pattern like Authorization: Basic APIKEYHERE:x you should look at the "Custom" authentication method instead.

const authentication = {
  type: 'basic',
  // "test" could also be a function
  test: {
    url: 'https://example.com/api/accounts/me.json'
  },
  connectionLabel: '{{bundle.authData.username}}' // Can also be a function, check digest auth below for an example
  // you can provide additional fields, but we'll provide `username`/`password` automatically
};

const App = {
  // ...
  authentication: authentication
  // ...
};

Custom

This is what most "API Key" driven apps should default to using. You'll likely provide some custom beforeRequest middleware or a requestTemplate to complete the authentication by adding/computing needed headers.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-custom-auth for a working example app for custom auth.

const authentication = {
  type: 'custom',
  // "test" could also be a function
  test: {
    url:
      'https://{{bundle.authData.subdomain}}.example.com/api/accounts/me.json'
  },
  fields: [
    {
      key: 'subdomain',
      type: 'string',
      required: true,
      helpText: 'Found in your browsers address bar after logging in.'
    },
    {
      key: 'api_key',
      type: 'string',
      required: true,
      helpText: 'Found on your settings page.'
    }
  ]
};

const addApiKeyToHeader = (request, z, bundle) => {
  request.headers['X-Subdomain'] = bundle.authData.subdomain;
  const basicHash = Buffer(`${bundle.authData.api_key}:x`).toString('base64');
  request.headers.Authorization = `Basic ${basicHash}`;
  return request;
};

const App = {
  // ...
  authentication: authentication,
  beforeRequest: [addApiKeyToHeader]
  // ...
};

Digest

Very similar to the "Basic" authentication method above, but uses digest authentication instead of Basic authentication.

const authentication = {
  type: 'digest',
  // "test" could also be a function
  test: {
    url: 'https://example.com/api/accounts/me.json'
  },
  connectionLabel: (z, bundle) => {
    // Can also be a string, check basic auth above for an example
    // bundle.inputData has whatever comes back from the .test function/request, assuming it returns a JSON object
    return bundle.inputData.email;
  }
  // you can provide additional fields, but Zapier will provide `username`/`password` automatically
};

const App = {
  // ...
  authentication: authentication
  // ...
};

Session

Probably the most "powerful" mechanism for authentication - it gives you the ability to exchange some user provided data for some authentication data (IE: username & password for a session key).

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-session-auth for a working example app for session auth.

const getSessionKey = (z, bundle) => {
  const promise = z.request({
    method: 'POST',
    url: 'https://example.com/api/accounts/login.json',
    body: {
      username: bundle.inputData.username,
      password: bundle.inputData.password
    }
  });

  return promise.then(response => {
    if (response.status === 401) {
      throw new Error('The username/password you supplied is invalid');
    }
    return {
      sessionKey: z.JSON.parse(response.content).sessionKey
    };
  });
};

const authentication = {
  type: 'session',
  // "test" could also be a function
  test: {
    url: 'https://example.com/api/accounts/me.json'
  },
  fields: [
    {
      key: 'username',
      type: 'string',
      required: true,
      helpText: 'Your login username.'
    },
    {
      key: 'password',
      type: 'string',
      required: true,
      helpText: 'Your login password.'
    }
    // For Session Auth we store `sessionKey` automatically in `bundle.authData`
    // for future use. If you need to save/use something that the user shouldn't
    // need to type/choose, add a "computed" field, like:
    // {key: 'something': type: 'string', required: false, computed: true}
    // And remember to return it in sessionConfig.perform
  ],
  sessionConfig: {
    perform: getSessionKey
  }
};

const includeSessionKeyHeader = (request, z, bundle) => {
  if (bundle.authData.sessionKey) {
    request.headers = request.headers || {};
    request.headers['X-Session-Key'] = bundle.authData.sessionKey;
  }
  return request;
};

const sessionRefreshIf401 = (response, z, bundle) => {
  if (bundle.authData.sessionKey) {
    if (response.status === 401) {
      throw new z.errors.RefreshAuthError(); // ask for a refresh & retry
    }
  }
  return response;
};

const App = {
  // ...
  authentication: authentication,
  beforeRequest: [includeSessionKeyHeader],
  afterResponse: [sessionRefreshIf401]
  // ...
};

Note - For Session auth, authentication.sessionConfig.perform will have the provided fields in bundle.inputData instead of bundle.authData because bundle.authData will only have "previously existing" values, which will be empty the first time the Zap runs.

OAuth2

Zapier's OAuth2 implementation is based on the authorization_code flow, similar to GitHub and Facebook.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-oauth2 for a working example app for oauth2.

It looks like this:

  1. Zapier sends the user to the authorization URL defined by your App
  2. Once authorized, your website sends the user to the redirect_uri Zapier provided (zapier describe to find out what it is)
  3. Zapier makes a call on the backend to your API to exchange the code for an access_token
  4. Zapier remembers the access_token and makes calls on behalf of the user
  5. (Optionally) Zapier can refresh the token if it expires

You are required to define the authorization URL and the API call to fetch the access token. You'll also likely want to set your CLIENT_ID and CLIENT_SECRET as environment variables:

# setting the environment variables on Zapier.com
$ zapier env 1.0.0 CLIENT_ID 1234
$ zapier env 1.0.0 CLIENT_SECRET abcd

# and when running tests locally, don't forget to define them!
$ CLIENT_ID=1234 CLIENT_SECRET=abcd zapier test

Your auth definition would look something like this:

const authentication = {
  type: 'oauth2',
  test: {
    url:
      'https://{{bundle.authData.subdomain}}.example.com/api/accounts/me.json'
  },
  // you can provide additional fields for inclusion in authData
  oauth2Config: {
    // "authorizeUrl" could also be a function returning a string url
    authorizeUrl: {
      method: 'GET',
      url:
        'https://{{bundle.inputData.subdomain}}.example.com/api/oauth2/authorize',
      params: {
        client_id: '{{process.env.CLIENT_ID}}',
        state: '{{bundle.inputData.state}}',
        redirect_uri: '{{bundle.inputData.redirect_uri}}',
        response_type: 'code'
      }
    },
    // Zapier expects a response providing {access_token: 'abcd'}
    // "getAccessToken" could also be a function returning an object
    getAccessToken: {
      method: 'POST',
      url:
        'https://{{bundle.inputData.subdomain}}.example.com/api/v2/oauth2/token',
      body: {
        code: '{{bundle.inputData.code}}',
        client_id: '{{process.env.CLIENT_ID}}',
        client_secret: '{{process.env.CLIENT_SECRET}}',
        redirect_uri: '{{bundle.inputData.redirect_uri}}',
        grant_type: 'authorization_code'
      },
      headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
      }
    },
    scope: 'read,write'
  },
  // If you need any fields upfront, put them here
  fields: [
    { key: 'subdomain', type: 'string', required: true, default: 'app' }
    // For OAuth we store `access_token` and `refresh_token` automatically
    // in `bundle.authData` for future use. If you need to save/use something
    // that the user shouldn't need to type/choose, add a "computed" field, like:
    // {key: 'something': type: 'string', required: false, computed: true}
    // And remember to return it in oauth2Config.getAccessToken/refreshAccessToken
  ]
};

const addBearerHeader = (request, z, bundle) => {
  if (bundle.authData && bundle.authData.access_token) {
    request.headers.Authorization = `Bearer ${bundle.authData.access_token}`;
  }
  return request;
};

const App = {
  // ...
  authentication: authentication,
  beforeRequest: [addBearerHeader]
  // ...
};

module.exports = App;

Note - For OAuth, authentication.oauth2Config.authorizeUrl, authentication.oauth2Config.getAccessToken, and authentication.oauth2Config.refreshAccessToken will have the provided fields in bundle.inputData instead of bundle.authData because bundle.authData will only have "previously existing" values, which will be empty the first time the Zap runs.

Resources

A resource is a representation (as a JavaScript object) of one of the REST resources of your API. Say you have a /recipes endpoint for working with recipes; you can define a recipe resource in your app that will tell Zapier how to do create, read, and search operations on that resource.

const Recipe = {
  // `key` is the unique identifier the Zapier backend references
  key: 'recipe',
  // `noun` is the user-friendly name displayed in the Zapier UI
  noun: 'Recipe',
  // `list` and `create` are just a couple of the methods you can define
  list: {
    //...
  },
  create: {
    //...
  }
};

The quickest way to create a resource is with the zapier scaffold command:

zapier scaffold resource "Recipe"

This will generate the resource file and add the necessary statements to the index.js file to import it.

Resource Definition

A resource has a few basic properties. The first is the key, which allows Zapier to identify the resource on our backend. The second is the noun, the user-friendly name of the resource that is presented to users throughout the Zapier UI.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-resource for a working example app using resources.

After those, there is a set of optional properties that tell Zapier what methods can be performed on the resource. The complete list of available methods can be found in the Resource Schema Docs. For now, let's focus on two:

  • list - Tells Zapier how to fetch a set of this resource. This becomes a Trigger in the Zapier Editor.
  • create - Tells Zapier how to create a new instance of the resource. This becomes an Action in the Zapier Editor.

Here is a complete example of what the list method might look like

const listRecipesRequest = {
  url: 'http://example.com/recipes'
};

const Recipe = {
  key: 'recipe',
  //...
  list: {
    display: {
      label: 'New Recipe',
      description: 'Triggers when a new recipe is added.'
    },
    operation: {
      perform: listRecipesRequest
    }
  }
};

The method is made up of two properties, a display and an operation. The display property (schema) holds the info needed to present the method as an available Trigger in the Zapier Editor. The operation (schema) provides the implementation to make the API call.

Adding a create method looks very similar.

const createRecipeRequest = {
  url: 'http://example.com/recipes',
  method: 'POST',
  body: {
    name: 'Baked Falafel',
    style: 'mediterranean'
  }
};

const Recipe = {
  key: 'recipe',
  //...
  list: {
    //...
  },
  create: {
    display: {
      label: 'Add Recipe',
      description: 'Adds a new recipe to our cookbook.'
    },
    operation: {
      perform: createRecipeRequest
    }
  }
};

Every method you define on a resource Zapier converts to the appropriate Trigger, Create, or Search. Our examples above would result in an app with a New Recipe Trigger and an Add Recipe Create.

Note the keys for the Trigger, Create, Search, and Search or Create are automatically generated (in case you want to use them in a dynamic dropdown), like: {resourceName}List, {resourceName}Create, {resourceName}Search, and {resourceName}SearchOrCreate; in the examples above, {resourceName} would be recipe.

Triggers/Searches/Creates

Triggers, Searches, and Creates are the way an app defines what it is able to do. Triggers read data into Zapier (i.e. watch for new recipes). Searches locate individual records (find recipe by title). Creates create new records in your system (add a recipe to the catalog).

The definition for each of these follows the same structure. Here is an example of a trigger:

const recipeListRequest = {
  url: 'http://example.com/recipes'
};

const App = {
  //...
  triggers: {
    new_recipe: {
      key: 'new_recipe', // uniquely identifies the trigger
      noun: 'Recipe', // user-friendly word that is used to refer to the resource
      // `display` controls the presentation in the Zapier Editor
      display: {
        label: 'New Recipe',
        description: 'Triggers when a new recipe is added.'
      },
      // `operation` implements the API call used to fetch the data
      operation: {
        perform: recipeListRequest
      }
    },
    another_trigger: {
      // Another trigger definition...
    }
  }
};

You can find more details on the definition for each by looking at the Trigger Schema, Search Schema, and Create Schema.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-trigger for a working example app using triggers.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-rest-hooks for a working example app using REST hook triggers.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-search for a working example app using searches.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-create for a working example app using creates.

Return Types

Each of the 3 types of function expects a certain type of object. As of core v1.0.11, there are automated checks to let you know when you're trying to pass the wrong type back. There's more info in each relevant post_X section of the v2 docs. For reference, each expects:

Method Return Type Notes
Trigger Array 0 or more objects that will be passed to the deduper
Search Array 0 or more objects. If len > 0, put the best match first
Action Object Can also be [Object]

Fields

On each trigger, search, or create in the operation directive - you can provide an array of objects as fields under the inputFields. Fields are what your users would see in the main Zapier user interface. For example, you might have a "create contact" action with fields like "First name", "Last name", "Email", etc.

You can find more details on each and every field option at Field Schema.

Those fields have various options you can provide, here is a succinct example:

const App = {
  //...
  creates: {
    create_recipe: {
      //...
      operation: {
        // an array of objects is the simplest way
        inputFields: [
          {
            key: 'title',
            required: true,
            label: 'Title of Recipe',
            helpText: 'Name your recipe!'
          },
          {
            key: 'style',
            required: true,
            choices: { mexican: 'Mexican', italian: 'Italian' }
          }
        ],
        perform: () => {}
      }
    }
  }
};

Custom/Dynamic Fields

In some cases, it might be necessary to provide fields that are dynamically generated - especially for custom fields. This is a common pattern for CRMs, form software, databases and more. Basically - you can provide a function instead of a field and we'll evaluate that function - merging the dynamic fields with the static fields.

You should see bundle.inputData partially filled in as users provide data - even in field retrieval. This allows you to build hierarchical relationships into fields (EG: only show issues from the previously selected project).

const recipeFields = (z, bundle) => {
  const response = z.request('http://example.com/api/v2/fields.json');
  // json is is [{"key":"field_1"},{"key":"field_2"}]
  return response.then(res => res.json);
};

const App = {
  //...
  creates: {
    create_recipe: {
      //...
      operation: {
        // an array of objects is the simplest way
        inputFields: [
          {
            key: 'title',
            required: true,
            label: 'Title of Recipe',
            helpText: 'Name your recipe!'
          },
          {
            key: 'style',
            required: true,
            choices: { mexican: 'Mexican', italian: 'Italian' }
          },
          recipeFields // provide a function inline - we'll merge the results!
        ],
        perform: () => {}
      }
    }
  }
};

Additionally, if there is a field that affects the generation of dynamic fields, you can set the altersDynamicFields: true property. This informs the Zapier UI that whenver the value of that field changes, fields need to be recomputed. An example could be a static dropdown of "dessert type" that will change whether the function that generates dynamic fields includes a field "with sprinkles."

module.exports = {
  key: 'dessert',
  noun: 'Dessert',
  display: {
    label: 'Order Dessert',
    description: 'Orders a dessert.'
  },
  operation: {
    inputFields: [
      {
        key: 'type',
        required: true,
        choices: { 1: 'cake', 2: 'ice cream', 3: 'cookie' },
        altersDynamicFields: true
      },
      function(z, bundle) {
        if (bundle.inputData.type === '2') {
          return [{ key: 'with_sprinkles', type: 'boolean' }];
        }
        return [];
      }
    ],
    perform: function(z, bundle) {
      /* ... */
    }
  }
};

Dynamic Dropdowns

Sometimes, API endpoints require clients to specify a parent object in order to create or access the child resources. Imagine having to specify a company id in order to get a list of employees for that company. Since people don't speak in auto-incremented ID's, it is necessary that Zapier offer a simple way to select that parent using human readable handles.

Our solution is to present users a dropdown that is populated by making a live API call to fetch a list of parent objects. We call these special dropdowns "dynamic dropdowns."

To define one, you can provide the dynamic property on your field to specify the trigger that should be used to populate the options for the dropdown. The value for the property is a dot-separated concatenation of a trigger's key, the field to use for the value, and the field to use for the label.

const App = {
  //...
  resources: {
    project: {
      key: 'project',
      //...
      list: {
        //...
        operation: {
          perform: () => {
            return [{ id: 123, name: 'Project 1' }];
          } // called for project_id dropdown
        }
      }
    },
    issue: {
      key: 'issue',
      //...
      create: {
        //...
        operation: {
          inputFields: [
            {
              key: 'project_id',
              required: true,
              label: 'Project',
              dynamic: 'projectList.id.name'
            }, // calls project.list
            {
              key: 'title',
              required: true,
              label: 'Title',
              helpText: 'What is the name of the issue?'
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
};

In the UI, users will see something like this:

screenshot of dynamic dropdown in Zap Editor

Dynamic dropdowns are one of the few fields that automatically invalidate Zapier's field cache, so it is not necessary to set altersDynamicFields to true for these fields.

Search-Powered Fields

For fields that take id of another object to create a relationship between the two (EG: a project id for a ticket), you can specify the search property on the field to indicate that Zapier needs to prompt the user to setup a Search step to populate the value for this field. Similar to dynamic dropdowns, the value for this property is a dot-separated concatenation of a search's key and the field to use for the value.

const App = {
  //...
  resources: {
    project: {
      key: 'project',
      //...
      search: {
        //...
        operation: {
          perform: () => {
            return [{ id: 123, name: 'Project 1' }];
          } // called for project_id
        }
      }
    },
    issue: {
      key: 'issue',
      //...
      create: {
        //...
        operation: {
          inputFields: [
            {
              key: 'project_id',
              required: true,
              label: 'Project',
              dynamic: 'projectList.id.name',
              search: 'projectSearch.id'
            }, // calls project.search (requires a trigger in the "dynamic" property)
            {
              key: 'title',
              required: true,
              label: 'Title',
              helpText: 'What is the name of the issue?'
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  }
};

NOTE: This has to be combined with the dynamic property to give the user a guided experience when setting up a Zap.

If you don't define a trigger for the dynamic property, the search connector won't show.

Computed Fields

In OAuth and Session Auth, you might want to store fields in bundle.authData (other than access_token, refresh_token — for OAuth —, or sessionKey — for Session Auth), that you don't want the user to fill in.

For those situations, you need a computed field. It's just like another field, but with a computed: true property (don't forget to also make it required: false). You can see examples in the OAuth or Session Auth example sections.

Z Object

We provide several methods off of the z object, which is provided as the first argument to all function calls in your app.

The z object is passed into your functions as the first argument - IE: perform: (z) => {}.

z.request([url], options)

z.request([url], options) is a promise based HTTP client with some Zapier-specific goodies. See Making HTTP Requests.

z.console

z.console.log(message) is a logging console, similar to Node.js console but logs remotely, as well as to stdout in tests. See Log Statements

z.dehydrate(func, inputData)

z.dehydrate(func, inputData) is used to lazily evaluate a function, perfect to avoid API calls during polling or for reuse. See Dehydration.

z.stashFile(bufferStringStream, [knownLength], [filename], [contentType])

z.stashFile(bufferStringStream, [knownLength], [filename], [contentType]) is a promise based file stasher that returns a URL file pointer. See Stashing Files.

z.JSON

z.JSON is similar to the JSON built-in like z.JSON.parse('...'), but catches errors and produces nicer tracebacks.

z.hash()

z.hash() is a crypto tool for doing things like z.hash('sha256', 'my password')

z.errors

z.errors is a collection error classes that you can throw in your code, like throw new z.errors.HaltedError('...').

The available errors are:

For more details on error handling in general, see here.

Bundle Object

This object holds the user's auth details and the data for the API requests.

The bundle object is passed into your functions as the second argument - IE: perform: (z, bundle) => {}.

bundle.authData

bundle.authData is user-provided authentication data, like api_key or access_token. Read more on authentication.

bundle.inputData

bundle.inputData is user-provided data for this particular run of the trigger/search/create, as defined by the inputFields. For example:

{
  createdBy: 'Bobby Flay'
  style: 'mediterranean'
}

bundle.inputDataRaw

bundle.inputDataRaw is kind of like inputData, but before rendering {{curlies}}:

{
  createdBy: '{{chef_name}}'
  style: '{{style}}'
}

bundle.meta

bundle.meta is extra information useful for doing advanced behaviors depending on what the user is doing. It looks something like this:

{
  frontend: false,
  prefill: false,
  hydrate: true,
  test_poll: false,
  standard_poll: true,
  first_poll: false,
  limit: -1,
  page: 0,
}

For example - if you want to do pagination - you could do:

const getList = (z, bundle) => {
  const promise = z.request({
    url: 'http://example.com/api/list.json',
    params: {
      limit: 100,
      offset: 100 * bundle.meta.page
    }
  });
  return promise.then((response) => response.json);
};

bundle.meta.zap.id is only available in the performSubscribe and performUnsubscribe methods

The user's Zap ID is available during the subscribe and unsubscribe methods.

For example - you could do:

const subscribeHook = (z, bundle) => {

  const options = {
    url: 'http://57b20fb546b57d1100a3c405.mockapi.io/api/hooks',
    method: 'POST',
    body: {
      url: bundle.targetUrl, // bundle.targetUrl has the Hook URL this app should call
      zap_id: bundle.meta.zap.id,
    },
  };

  return z.request(options).then((response) => response.json);
};

module.exports = {
  // ... see our rest hook example for additional details: https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-rest-hooks/blob/master/triggers/recipe.js
  performSubscribe: subscribeHook,
  // ...
};

Environment

Apps can define environment variables that are available when the app's code executes. They work just like environment variables defined on the command line. They are useful when you have data like an OAuth client ID and secret that you don't want to commit to source control. Environment variables can also be used as a quick way to toggle between a a staging and production environment during app development.

It is important to note that variables are defined on a per-version basis! When you push a new version, the existing variables from the previous version are copied, so you don't have to manually add them. However, edits made to one version's environment will not affect the other versions.

Defining Environment Variables

To define an environment variable, use the env command:

# Will set the environment variable on Zapier.com
zapier env 1.0.0 MY_SECRET_VALUE 1234

You will likely also want to set the value locally for testing.

export MY_SECRET_VALUE=1234

Alternatively, we provide some extra tooling to work with an .environment that looks like th 8 is:

10BC8 
MY_SECRET_VALUE=1234

And then in your test/basic.js file:

const zapier = require('zapier-platform-core');

should('some tests', () => {
  zapier.tools.env.inject(); // testing only!
  console.log(process.env.MY_SECRET_VALUE);
  // should print '1234'
});

This is a popular way to provide process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN || bundle.authData.access_token for convenient testing.

NOTE Variables defined via zapier env will always be uppercased. For example, you would access the variable defined by zapier env 1.0.0 foo_bar 1234 with process.env.FOO_BAR.

Accessing Environment Variables

To view existing environment variables, use the env command.

# Will print a table listing the variables for this version
zapier env 1.0.0

Within your app, you can access the environment via the standard process.env - any values set via local export or zapier env will be there.

For example, you can access the process.env in your perform functions:

const listExample = (z, bundle) => {
  const httpOptions = {
    headers: {
      'my-header': process.env.MY_SECRET_VALUE
    }
  };
  const response = z.request(
    'http://example.com/api/v2/recipes.json',
    httpOptions
  );
  return response.then(res => res.json);
};

const App = {
  // ...
  triggers: {
    example: {
      // ...
      operation: {
        // ...
        perform: listExample
      }
    }
  }
};

Note! Be sure to lazily access your environment variables - we generally set the environment variables after your code is already loaded.

Making HTTP Requests

There are two primary ways to make HTTP requests in the Zapier platform:

  1. Shorthand HTTP Requests - these are simple object literals that make it easy to define simple requests.
  2. Manual HTTP Requests - this is much less "magic", you use z.request([url], options) to make the requests and control the response.

There are also a few helper constructs you can use to reduce boilerplate:

  1. requestTemplate which is an shorthand HTTP request that will be merged with every request.
  2. beforeRequest middleware which is an array of functions to mutate a request before it is sent.
  3. afterResponse middleware which is an array of functions to mutate a response before it is completed.

Note: you can install any HTTP client you like - but this is greatly discouraged as you lose automatic HTTP logging and middleware.

Shorthand HTTP Requests

For simple HTTP requests that do not require special pre or post processing, you can specify the HTTP options as an object literal in your app definition.

This features:

  1. Lazy {{curly}} replacement.
  2. JSON de-serialization.
  3. Automatic non-2xx error raising.
const triggerShorthandRequest = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'http://{{bundle.authData.subdomain}}.example.com/v2/api/recipes.json',
  params: {
    sort_by: 'id',
    sort_order: 'DESC'
  }
};

const App = {
  // ...
  triggers: {
    example: {
      // ...
      operation: {
        // ...
        perform: triggerShorthandRequest
      }
    }
  }
};

In the url above, {{bundle.authData.subdomain}} is automatically replaced with the live value from the bundle. If the call returns a non 2xx return code, an error is automatically raised. The response body is automatically parsed as JSON and returned.

An error will be raised if the response is not valid JSON, so do not use shorthand HTTP requests with non-JSON responses.

Manual HTTP Requests

When you need to do custom processing of the response, or need to process non-JSON responses, you can make manual HTTP requests. This approach does not perform any magic - no status code checking, no automatic JSON parsing. Use this method when you need more control. Manual requests do perform lazy {{curly}} replacement.

To make a manual HTTP request, use the request method of the z object:

const listExample = (z, bundle) => {
  const customHttpOptions = {
    headers: {
      'my-header': 'from zapier'
    }
  };

  return z
    .request('http://example.com/api/v2/recipes.json', customHttpOptions)
    .then(response => {
      if (response.status >= 300) {
        throw new Error(`Unexpected status code ${response.status}`);
      }

      const recipes = z.JSON.parse(response.content);
      // do any custom processing of recipes here...

      return recipes;
    });
};

const App = {
  // ...
  triggers: {
    example: {
      // ...
      operation: {
        // ...
        perform: listExample
      }
    }
  }
};

POST and PUT Requests

To POST or PUT data to your API you can do this:

const App = {
  // ...
  triggers: {
    example: {
      // ...
      operation: {
        // ...
        perform: (z, bundle) => {
          const recipe = {
            name: 'Baked Falafel',
            style: 'mediterranean',
            directions: 'Get some dough....'
          };

          const options = {
            method: 'POST',
            body: JSON.stringify(recipe)
          };

          return z
            .request('http://example.com/api/v2/recipes.json', options)
            .then(response => {
              if (response.status !== 201) {
                throw new Error(`Unexpected status code ${response.status}`);
              }
            });
        }
      }
    }
  }
};

Note: you need to call z.JSON.stringify() before setting the body.

Using HTTP middleware

If you need to process all HTTP requests in a certain way, you may be able to use one of utility HTTP middleware functions.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-middleware for a working example app using HTTP middleware.

Try putting them in your app definition:

const addHeader = (request /*, z*/) => {
  request.headers['my-header'] = 'from zapier';
  return request;
};

const mustBe200 = (response /*, z*/) => {
  if (response.status !== 200) {
    throw new Error(`Unexpected status code ${response.status}`);
  }
  return response;
};

const autoParseJson = (response, z) => {
  response.json = z.JSON.parse(response.content);
  return response;
};

const App = {
  // ...
  beforeRequest: [addHeader],
  afterResponse: [mustBe200, autoParseJson]
  // ...
};

A beforeRequest middleware function takes a request options object, and returns a (possibly mutated) request object. An afterResponse middleware function takes a response object, and returns a (possibly mutated) response object. Middleware functions are executed in the order specified in the app definition, and each subsequent middleware receives the request or response object returned by the previous middleware.

Middleware functions can be asynchronous - just return a promise from the middleware function.

The second argument for middleware is the z object, but it does not include z.request() as using that would easily create infinite loops.

HTTP Request Options

Shorthand requests and manual z.request([url], options) calls support the following HTTP options:

  • url: HTTP url, you can provide it both z.request(url, options) or z.request({url: url, ...}).
  • method: HTTP method, default is GET.
  • headers: request headers object, format {'header-key': 'header-value'}.
  • params: URL query params object, format {'query-key': 'query-value'}.
  • body: request body, can be a string, buffer, readable stream or plain object. When it is an object/array and the Content-Type header is application/x-www-form-urlencoded the body will be transformed to query string parameters, otherwise we'll set the header to application/json; charset=utf-8 and JSON encode the body. Default is null.
  • json: shortcut object/array/etc. you want to JSON encode into body. Default is null.
  • form: shortcut object. you want to form encode into body. Default is null.
  • raw: set this to stream the response instead of consuming it immediately. Default is false.
  • redirect: set to manual to extract redirect headers, error to reject redirect, default is follow.
  • follow: maximum redirect count, set to 0 to not follow redirects. default is 20.
  • compress: support gzip/deflate content encoding. Set to false to disable. Default is true.
  • agent: Node.js http.Agent instance, allows custom proxy, certificate etc. Default is null.
  • timeout: request / response timeout in ms. Set to 0 to disable (OS limit still applies), timeout reset on redirect. Default is 0 (disabled).
  • size: maximum response body size in bytes. Set to 0`` to disable. Default is 0` (disabled).
z.request({
  url: 'http://example.com',
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  // only provide body, json or form...
  body: {hello: 'world'}, // or '{"hello": "world"}' or 'hello=world'
  json: {hello: 'world'},
  form: {hello: 'world'},
  // access node-fetch style response.body
  raw: false,
  redirect: 'follow',
  follow: 20,
  compress: true,
  agent: null,
  timeout: 0,
  size: 0,
})

HTTP Response Object

The response object returned by z.request([url], options) supports the following fields and methods:

  • status: The response status code, i.e. 200, 404, etc.
  • content: The response content as a String. For Buffer, try options.raw = true.
  • json: The response content as an object (or undefined). If options.raw = true - is a promise.
  • body: A stream available only if you provide options.raw = true.
  • headers: Response headers object. The header keys are all lower case.
  • getHeader(key): Retrieve response header, case insensitive: response.getHeader('My-Header')
  • throwForStatus(): Throw error if final response.status > 300. Will throw z.error.RefreshAuthError if 401.
  • request: The original request options object (see above).
z.request({
  // ..
}).then((response) => {
  // a bunch of examples lines for cherry picking
  response.status;
  response.headers['Content-Type'];
  response.getHeader('content-type');
  response.request; // original request options
  response.throwForStatus();
  // if options.raw === false (default)...
  JSON.parse(response.content);
  response.json;
  // if options.raw === true...
  response.buffer().then(buf => buf.toString());
  response.text().then(content => content);
  response.json().then(json => json);
  response.body.pipe(otherStream);
});

Dehydration

Dehydration, and its counterpart Hydration, is a tool that can lazily load data that might be otherwise expensive to retrieve aggressively.

  • Dehydration - think of this as "make a pointer", you control the creation of pointers with z.dehydrate(func, inputData)
  • Hydration - think of this as an automatic step that "consumes a pointer" and "returns some data", Zapier does this automatically behind the scenes

This is very common when Stashing Files - but that isn't their only use!

The method z.dehydrate(func, inputData) has two required arguments:

  • func - the function to call to fetch the extra data. Can be any raw function, defined in the file doing the dehydration or imported from another part of your app. You must also register the function in the app's hydrators property
  • inputData - this is an object that contains things like a path or id - whatever you need to load data on the other side

Why do I need to register my functions? Because of how Javascript works with its module system, we need an explicit handle on the function that can be accessed from the App definition without trying to "automagically" (and sometimes incorrectly) infer code locations.

Here is an example that pulls in extra data for a movie:

const getExtraDataFunction = (z, bundle) => {
  const url = `http://example.com/movies/${bundle.inputData.id}.json`;
  return z.request(url).then(res => z.JSON.parse(res.content));
};

const movieList = (z, bundle) => {
  return z
    .request('http://example.com/movies.json')
    .then(res => z.JSON.parse(res.content))
    .then(results => {
      return results.map(result => {
        // so maybe /movies.json is thin content but
        // /movies/:id.json has more details we want...
        result.moreData = z.dehydrate(getExtraDataFunction, {
          id: result.id
        });
        return result;
      });
    });
};

const App = {
  version: require('./package.json').version,
  platformVersion: require('zapier-platform-core').version,

  // don't forget to register hydrators here!
  // it can be imported from any module
  hydrators: {
    getExtraData: getExtraDataFunction
  },

  triggers: {
    new_movie: {
      noun: 'Movie',
      display: {
        label: 'New Movie',
        description: 'Triggers when a new Movie is added.'
      },
      operation: {
        perform: movieList
      }
    }
  }
};

module.exports = App;

And in future steps of the Zap - if Zapier encounters a pointer as returned by z.dehydrate(func, inputData) - Zapier will tie it back to your app and pull in the data lazily.

Why can't I just load the data immediately? Isn't it easier? In some cases it can be - but imagine an API that returns 100 records when polling - doing 100x GET /id.json aggressive inline HTTP calls when 99% of the time Zapier doesn't need the data yet is wasteful.

Stashing Files

It can be expensive to download and stream files or they can require complex handshakes to authorize downloads - so we provide a helpful stash routine that will take any String, Buffer or Stream and return a URL file pointer suitable for returning from triggers, searches, creates, etc.

The interface z.stashFile(bufferStringStream, [knownLength], [filename], [contentType]) takes a single required argument - the extra three arguments will be automatically populated in most cases. For example - a full example is this:

const content = 'Hello world!';
z.stashFile(content, content.length, 'hello.txt', 'text/plain')
  .then(url => z.console.log(url));
// https://zapier-dev-files.s3.amazonaws.com/cli-platform/f75e2819-05e2-41d0-b70e-9f8272f9eebf

Most likely you'd want to stream from another URL - note the usage of z.request({raw: true}):

const fileRequest = z.request({url: 'http://example.com/file.pdf', raw: true});
z.stashFile(fileRequest) // knownLength and filename will be sniffed from the request. contentType will be binary/octet-stream
  .then(url => z.console.log(url));
// https://zapier-dev-files.s3.amazonaws.com/cli-platform/74bc623c-d94d-4cac-81f1-f71d7d517bc7

Note: you should only be using z.stashFile() in a hydration method - otherwise it can be very expensive to stash dozens of files in a polling call - for example!

See a full example with dehydration/hydration wired in correctly:

const stashPDFfunction = (z, bundle) => {
  // use standard auth to request the file
  const filePromise = z.request({
    url: bundle.inputData.downloadUrl,
    raw: true
  });
  // and swap it for a stashed URL
  return z.stashFile(filePromise);
};

const pdfList = (z, bundle) => {
  return z
    .request('http://example.com/pdfs.json')
    .then(res => z.JSON.parse(res.content))
    .then(results => {
      return results.map(result => {
        // lazily convert a secret_download_url to a stashed url
        // zapier won't do this until we need it
        result.file = z.dehydrate(stashPDFfunction, {
          downloadUrl: result.secret_download_url
        });
        delete result.secret_download_url;
        return result;
      });
    });
};

const App = {
  version: require('./package.json').version,
  platformVersion: require('zapier-platform-core').version,

  hydrators: {
    stashPDF: stashPDFfunction
  },

  triggers: {
    new_pdf: {
      noun: 'PDF',
      display: {
        label: 'New PDF',
        description: 'Triggers when a new PDF is added.'
      },
      operation: {
        perform: pdfList
      }
    }
  }
};

module.exports = App;

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-files for a working example app using files.

Logging

There are two types of logs for a Zapier app, console logs and HTTP logs. The console logs are created by your app through the use of the z.console.log method (see below for details). The HTTP logs are created automatically by Zapier whenever your app makes HTTP requests (as long as you use z.request([url], options) or shorthand request objects).

To view the logs for your application, use the zapier logs command. There are two types of logs, http (logged automatically by Zapier on HTTP requests) and console (manual logs via z.console.log() statements).

For advanced logging options including only displaying the logs for a certain user or app version, look at the help for the logs command:

zapier help logs

Console Logging

To manually print a log statement in your code, use z.console.log:

z.console.log('Here are the input fields', bundle.inputData);

The z.console object has all the same methods and works just like the Node.js Console class - the only difference is we'll log to our distributed datastore and you can view them via zapier logs (more below).

Viewing Console Logs

To see your z.console.log logs, do:

zapier logs --type=console

HTTP Logging

If you are using the z.request() shortcut that we provide - HTTP logging is handled automatically for you. For example:

z.request('http://57b20fb546b57d1100a3c405.mockapi.io/api/recipes')
  .then((res) => {
    // do whatever you like, this request is already getting logged! :-D
    return res;
  })

Viewing HTTP Logs

To see the HTTP logs, do:

zapier logs --type=http

To see detailed http logs including headers, request and response bodies, etc, do:

zapier logs --type=http --detailed

Error Handling

APIs are not always available. Users do not always input data correctly to formulate valid requests. Thus, it is a good idea to write apps defensively and plan for 4xx and 5xx responses from APIs. Without proper handling, errors often have incomprehensible messages for end users, or possibly go uncaught.

Zapier provides a couple tools to help with error handling. First is the afterResponse middleware (docs), which provides a hook for processing all responses from HTTP calls. The other tool is the collection of errors in z.errors (docs), which control the behavior of Zaps when various kinds of errors occur.

General Errors

Errors due to a misconfiguration in a user's Zap should be handled in your app by throwing a standard JavaScript Error with a user-friendly message. Typically, this will be prettifying 4xx responses or API's that return errors as 200s with a payload that describes the error.

Example: throw new Error('Your error message.');

A couple best practices to keep in mind:

  • Elaborate on terse messages. "not_authenticated" -> "Your API Key is invalid. Please reconnect your account."
  • If the error calls out a specific field, surface that information to the user. "Invalid Request" -> "contact name is invalid"
  • If the error provides details about why a field is invalid, add that in too! "contact name is invalid" -> "contact name is too long"

Note that if a Zap raises too many error messages it will be automatically turned off, so only use these if the scenario is truly an error that needs to be fixed.

Halting Execution

Any operation can be interrupted or "halted" (not success, not error, but stopped for some specific reason) with a HaltedError. You might find yourself using this error in cases where a required pre-condition is not met. For instance, in a create to add an email address to a list where duplicates are not allowed, you would want to throw a HaltedError if the Zap attempted to add a duplicate. This would indicate failure, but it would be treated as a soft failure.

Unlike throwing Error, a Zap will never by turned off when this error is thrown (even if it is raised more often than not).

Example: throw new z.errors.HaltedError('Your reason.');

Stale Authentication Credentials

For apps that require manual refresh of authorization on a regular basis, Zapier provides a mechanism to notify users of expired credentials. With the ExpiredAuthError, the current operation is interrupted, the Zap is turned off (to prevent more calls with expired credentials), and a predefined email is sent out informing the user to refresh the credentials.

Example: throw new z.errors.ExpiredAuthError('Your message.');

For apps that use OAuth2 + refresh or Session Auth, you can use the RefreshAuthError. This will signal Zapier to refresh the credentials and then repeat the failed operation.

Example: throw new z.errors.RefreshAuthError();

Testing

You can write unit tests for your Zapier app that run locally, outside of the zapier editor. You can run these tests in a CI tool like Travis.

Writing Unit Tests

We recommend using the Mocha testing framework. After running zapier init you should find an example test to start from in the test directory.

// we use should assertions
const should = require('should');
const zapier = require('zapier-platform-core');

// createAppTester() makes it easier to test your app. It takes your
// raw app definition, and returns a function that will test you app.
const App = require('../index');
const appTester = zapier.createAppTester(App);

describe('triggers', () => {
  describe('new recipe trigger', () => {
    it('should load recipes', done => {
      // This is what Zapier will send to your app as input.
      // It contains trigger options the user choice in their zap.
      const bundle = {
        inputData: {
          style: 'mediterranean'
        }
      };

      // Pass appTester the path to the trigger you want to call,
      // and the input bundle. appTester returns a promise for results.
      appTester(App.App.triggers.recipe.operation.perform, bundle)
        .then(results => {
          // Make assertions

          results.length.should.eql(10);

          const firstRecipe = results[0];
          firstRecipe.name.should.eql('Baked Falafel');

          done();
        })
        .catch(done);
    });
  });
});

Mocking Requests

While testing, it's useful to test your code without actually hitting any external services. Nock is a node.js utility that intercepts requests before they ever leave your computer. You can specify a response code, body, headers, and more. It works out of the box with z.request by setting up your nock before calling appTester.

require('should');

const zapier = require('zapier-platform-core');

const App = require('../index');
const appTester = zapier.createAppTester(App);

const nock = require('nock');

describe('triggers', () => {
  describe('new recipe trigger', () => {
    it('should load recipes', done => {
      const bundle = {
        inputData: {
          style: 'mediterranean'
        }
      };

      // mocks the next request that matches this url and querystring
      nock('http://57b20fb546b57d1100a3c405.mockapi.io/api')
        .get('/recipes')
        .query(bundle.inputData)
        .reply(200, [
          { name: 'name 1', directions: 'directions 1', id: 1 },
          { name: 'name 2', directions: 'directions 2', id: 2 }
        ]);

      appTester(App.triggers.recipe.operation.perform, bundle)
        .then(results => {
          results.length.should.above(1);

          const firstRecipe = results[0];
          firstRecipe.name.should.eql('name 1');
          firstRecipe.directions.should.eql('directions 1');

          done();
        })
        .catch(done);
    });

    it('should load recipes without filters', done => {
      const bundle = {};

      // each test needs its own mock
      nock('http://57b20fb546b57d1100a3c405.mockapi.io/api')
        .get('/recipes')
        .reply(200, [
          { name: 'name 1', directions: 'directions 1', id: 1 },
          { name: 'name 2', directions: 'directions 2', id: 2 }
        ]);

      appTester(App.triggers.recipe.operation.perform, bundle)
        .then(results => {
          results.length.should.above(1);

          const firstRecipe = results[0];
          firstRecipe.name.should.eql('name 1');
          firstRecipe.directions.should.eql('directions 1');

          done();
        })
        .catch(done);
    });
  });
});

There's more info about nock and its usage in its readme.

Running Unit Tests

To run all your tests do:

zapier test

You can also go direct with npm test or node_modules/mocha/bin/mocha.

Testing & Environment Variables

These work much like normal environment variables - for example:

CLIENT_ID=1234 CLIENT_SECRET=abcd zapier test

Or, export them explicitly and place them into the environment:

export CLIENT_ID=1234
export CLIENT_SECRET=abcd
zapier test

Viewing HTTP Logs in Unit Tests

When running a unit test via zapier test, z.console statements and detailed HTTP logs print to stdout:

zapier test

Sometimes you don't want that much logging, for example in a CI test. To suppress the detailed HTTP logs do:

zapier test --quiet

To also suppress the HTTP summary logs do:

zapier test --very-quiet

Testing in Your CI (Jenkins/Travis/etc.)

Behind the scenes zapier test is doing a pretty standard npm test with mocha as the backend.

This makes it pretty straightforward to integrate into your testing interface. If you'd like to test with Travis CI for example - the .travis.yml would look something like this:

language: node_js
node_js:
  - "6.10.2"
before_script: npm install -g zapier-platform-cli
script: CLIENT_ID=1234 CLIENT_SECRET=abcd zapier test

But you can substitute zapier test with npm test, or a direct call to node_modules/mocha/bin/mocha. Also, we generally recommend putting the environment variables into whatever configuration screen Jenkins or Travis provides!

Using npm Modules

Use npm modules just like you would use them in any other node app, for example:

npm install --save jwt

And then package.json will be updated, and you can use them like anything else:

const jwt = require('jwt');

During the zapier build or zapier push step - we'll copy all your code to /tmp folder and do a fresh re-install of modules.

Note: If your package isn't being pushed correctly (IE: you get "Error: Cannot find module 'whatever'" in production), try adding the --disable-dependency-detection flag to zapier push.

Note 2: You can also try adding a "includeInBuild" array property (with paths to include, which will be evaluated to RegExp, with a case insensitive flag) to your .zapierapprc file, to make it look like:

{
  "id": 1,
  "key": "App1",
  "includeInBuild": [
    "test.txt",
    "testing.json"
  ]
}

Warning: do not use compiled libraries unless you run your build on the AWS AMI ami-6869aa05.

Using Transpilers

We do not yet support transpilers out of the box, but if you would like to use babel or similar, we recommend creating a custom wrapper on zapier push like this in your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "zapier-dev": "babel src --out-dir lib --watch",
    "zapier-push": "babel src --out-dir lib && zapier push"
  }
}

And then you can have your fancy ES7 code in src/* and a root index.js like this:

module.exports = require('./lib');

And work with commands like this:

# watch and recompile
npm run zapier-dev

# tests should work fine
zapier test

# every build ensures a fresh build
npm run zapier-push

There are a lot of details left out - check out the full example app for a working setup.

Example App: check out https://github.com/zapier/zapier-platform-example-app-babel for a working example app using Babel.

Example Apps

See the wiki for a full list of working examples (and installation instructions).

FAQs

Q: Does Zapier support XML (SOAP) APIs?

A: Not natively, but it can! Users have reported that the following npm modules are compatible with the CLI Platform:

const xml = require('pixl-xml');

const App = {
  // ...
  afterResponse: [
    (response, z, bundle) => {
      response.xml = xml.parse(response.content);
      return response;
    }
  ]
  // ...
};

Q: Is it possible to iterate over pages in a polling trigger?

A: Yes, though there are caveats. Your entire function only gets 30 seconds to run. HTTP requests are costly, so paging through a list may time out (which you should avoid at all costs).

// some async call
const makeCall = (z, start, limit) => {
  return z.request({
    url: 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts',
    params: {
      _start: start,
      _limit: limit
    }
  });
};

// triggers on paging with a certain tag
const performPaging = (z, bundle) => {
  const limit = 3;
  let start = 0;

  // array of promises
  let promises = [];

  let i = 0;
  while (i < 5) {
    promises.push(makeCall(z, start, limit));
    start += limit;
    i += 1;
  }

  return Promise.all(promises).then(res => {
    // res is an array of responses
    const results = res.map(r => r.json); // array of arrays of js objects
    return Array.prototype.concat.apply([], results); // flatten array
  });
};

module.exports = {
  key: 'paging',
  noun: 'Paging',

  display: {
    label: 'Get Paging',
    description: 'Triggers on a new paging.'
  },

  operation: {
    inputFields: [],
    perform: performPaging
  }
};

If you need to do more requests conditionally based on the results of an HTTP call (such as getting "next url" param, using async/await with a transpiler is the way to go. If you go this route, only page as far as you need to. Keep an eye on the polling guidelines, namely the part about only iterating until you hit items that have probably been seen in a previous poll.

module.exports = {
  key: 'paging',
  noun: 'Paging',

  display: {
    label: 'Get Paging',
    description: 'Triggers on a new paging.'
  },

  operation: {
    inputFields: [],
    perform: async (z, bundle) => {
      let response = await z.request({
        url: 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts',
        params: {
          _start: 0,
          _limit: 3
        }
      });

      let results = response.json;

      // conditionally make a second request
      if (results[0].id < 5) {
        response = await z.request({
          url: 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts',
          params: {
            _start: 3,
            _limit: 3
          }
        });

        results = results.concat(response.json);
      }

      return results;
    }
  }
};

Command Line Tab Completion

We have provided two tab completion scripts to make it easier to use the Zapier Platform CLI, for zsh and bash.

Zsh Completion Script

To use the zsh completion script, first setup support for completion, if you haven't already done so. This example assumes your completion scripts are in ~/.zsh/completion. Adjust accordingly if you put them somewhere else:

# add custom completion scripts
fpath=(~/.zsh/completion $fpath)

# compsys initialization
autoload -U compinit
compinit

Next download our completion script to your completions directory:

cd ~/.zsh/completion
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zapier/zapier-platform-cli/master/goodies/zsh/_zapier -O

Finally, restart your shell and start hitting TAB with the zapier command!

Bash Completion Script

To use the bash completion script, first download the completion script. The example assumes your completion scripts are in ~/.bash_completion.d directory. Adjust accordingly if you put them somewhere else.

cd ~/.bash_completion.d
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zapier/zapier-platform-cli/master/goodies/bash/_zapier -O

Next source the script from your ~/.bash_profile:

source ~/.bash_completion.d/_zapier

Finally, restart your shell and start hitting TAB with the zapier command!

Upgrading Zapier Platform CLI or Zapier Platform Core

The CLI version of the Platform has 3 public packages:

  • zapier-platform-cli: This is the zapier command. Should be installed with npm install -g zapier-platform-cli and is used to interact with your app and Zapier, but doesn't run in nor is included by your app.

  • zapier-platform-core: This is what allows your app to interact with Zapier. Apps require this package in their package.json file, and a specific version by design, so you can keep using an older "core" version without having to upgrade your code, but still being able to update your app. Should be installed with npm install in your app. You should manually keep this version number in sync with your zapier-platform-cli global one, but it's not required for all upgrades.

  • zapier-platform-schema: This is a separate package for maintainability purposes. It's a dependency installed automatically by zapier-platform-core. It's basically the package that enforces app schemas to match what Zapier has in the backend.

Upgrading Zapier Platform CLI

Check your version with $ zapier --version and update with $ npm -g update zapier-platform-cli.

You can also look at the Changelog to understand what changed between versions.

When to Update CLI

You should keep your zapier-platform-cli global package up-to-date to get the latest features and bug fixes for interacting with your app, but it's not mandatory. You should be able to use any publicly available zapier-platform-cli version.

Upgrading Zapier Platform Core

Open your app's package.json file and update the number for the zapier-platform-core entry to what the latest public version is. You can see it on the right side of the NPM registry page. After that you should be able to run npm update and get the latest goodies!

When To Update Core

You should keep your zapier-platform-core package up-to-date to get the latest features and bug fixes for your app when interacting with Zapier, but it's not mandatory. You should be able to use any publicly available zapier-platform-core version.

While not always required, it's also recommended you use the same zapier-platform-cli global package as the app's zapier-platform-core one, to ensure maximum compatibility.

Development of the CLI

This section is only relevant if you're editing the zapier-platform-cli package

Commands

  • export ZAPIER_BASE_ENDPOINT='http://localhost:8001' if you're building against a local dev environment
  • npm install for getting started
  • npm run build for updating ./lib from ./src
  • npm test for running tests (also runs npm run build)
  • npm run test-convert for running integration tests for the zapier convert command
  • npm run docs for updating docs
  • npm run gen-completions for updating the auto complete scripts

Publishing of the CLI (after merging)

  • npm version [patch|minor|major] will pull, test, update docs, increment version in package.json, push tags, and publish to npm
  • npm run validate-templates for validating the example apps
  • npm run set-template-versions VERSION for updating the platform-core version in the example app repos to VERSION

Get Help!

You can get help by either emailing partners@zapier.com or by joining our Slack channel https://zapier-platform-slack.herokuapp.com.

About

💻 Build Zapier integrations and test locally using the JavaScript tools you already know.

zapier.github.io/zapier-platform-cli/

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