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Many apps can take in information from other tools at a web address: an order system, a mailing list tool such as Mailchimp, a notes app such as Notion, or an automation tool such as Zapier. An API Call step in a workflow sends details from Hiveku to that address each time something happens. This guide builds a Northwind workflow that sends every Wholesale Form enquiry to an order system. The order system’s address here is a made-up example.com one, and the workflow stays switched off.
Before you start, find the web address the other app gives you for receiving information, and what it expects to be sent. Apps list this in their developer or API settings, often under a name like webhook or endpoint.

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Start the workflow when the form is sent

1

Create a blank workflow

Click Workflows in the left rail, then New Workflow. Type a name, such as Send wholesale enquiries to our order system, and click Create Blank Workflow. It starts switched off.
2

Add the Form Submitted trigger

Click the gear at the top right, then Browse All Nodes. Search for “form submitted”, click Form Submitted, and under Forms tick the form that should start it.

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Add the API Call step

1

Find API Call

Click the gear again, then Browse All Nodes. Search for “api call” and click API Call.
Add Node with api call typed in the search box, outlined, 1 result, and API Call under HTTP, outlined

The API Call step

2

Connect it

Drag from the small dot on the right edge of Form Submitted to the dot on the left edge of API Call, so it runs after the form arrives.
3

Set the address and method

Click API Call to open its settings. Paste the other app’s address into URL. Under Method, pick what the app asks for: POST sends new information, and is the usual one.
API Call settings: URL https://orders.example.com/api/wholesale-leads, outlined, and Method POST, outlined

Where it sends, and how

4

Write what it sends

Under Body, type the details in the format the app expects, usually JSON. Values in double curly braces are filled in from the form each time: {{trigger.contact.email}} is the visitor’s email address, and {{trigger.submissionId}} is the submission’s own ID.
Body: email set to the trigger contact email, form set to Wholesale Form, and submission_id set to the trigger submission ID, outlined

The details it sends

If the app needs a key, keep it as a workflow variable (see Keep API Keys and Settings for Your Workflows) and add it under Headers, for example {"Authorization": "Bearer {{env.ORDER_SYSTEM_KEY}}"}.Click Save Workflow.

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Test it without sending anything

1

Pick a submission and click Test Run

Click Form Submitted, then its Input tab, and click a recent submission under Test sample. Then click Test Run above the canvas. Both steps turn green with Done.
Test completed, 2/2 steps, outlined, and Form Submitted and API Call, POST orders.example.com/api/wholesale-leads, both marked Done, outlined

Both steps ran

2

Check what it would have sent

Click API Call, then its Output tab. Test run: nothing was sent or saved confirms the other app wasn’t contacted.
API Call, Done, Output tab: Test run: nothing was sent or saved. The fields below show what this step would have done, outlined

Simulated, not sent

Further down, Merge values shows what each value in double curly braces became for the submission you picked.
Last test execution, Simulated, and Merge values: trigger.contact.email resolved to sam.ortega@example.com, and trigger.submissionId resolved to the submission's ID, both in body.value, outlined

The values, filled in from the form

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Switch it on

When the values look right, click the switch at the top right so it reads Enabled. From then on, each new submission of the form is sent to the other app. If the app answers with an error, the run shows it under Runs: see Get Told When a Workflow Fails, and Fix It.

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Good to know

  • The app’s answer is passed on. A real run hands the app’s reply to the next step, so a later step can use it, for example an ID the order system gives back.
  • Sending the form’s files. Send the form’s uploaded files sends the files a visitor attached instead of a body. Put a short Delay step before the API Call, so the files’ virus scan can finish first.
  • Getting information in instead? To start a workflow when another app sends something to Hiveku, see Start a Workflow from Another App with a Webhook.
  • Bringing a list over. To move contacts from Mailchimp or another tool into Hiveku once, export them as a CSV file and import them.