How to connect anything
HTTP in, HTTP out, di hard parts don handle am
Every automation tool dey advertise number of integrations. Di number dey always big and e dey always di wrong question, because di system wey you really need na di one wey dem build in-house for 2014 by person wey don comot. Wetin matter na how well di tool fit speak di protocol wey dey under all of dem.
Di ready-made connections
Di applications wey most businesses dey run on don prepare steps: shops and marketplaces, accounting and invoicing, spreadsheets and databases, calendars and mail, storage and messaging, CRMs and helpdesks, payment providers and shipping carriers. You go authorise di account once and di fields go bear di name di application dey use, no be di name of im JSON.
Where one application get Polish-market special matter — invoicing system wey suppose be KSeF-ready, carrier wey im labels na national standard — di prepared step sabi about am, because di family dey sell into dat market and dem no get choice but to learn.
And then di general case
Everything else na HTTP step, and HTTP step here no be consolation prize. Na di same machinery wey di prepared connections build on, with di same handling of di parts wey dey tedious to write yourself.
Di tedious parts
Dem don handle am, so you no go write dem again
Authentication
API keys, bearer tokens, basic auth, OAuth 2 with refresh, HMAC request signing, mutual TLS. Dem go store credential once, call am by name, and dem no go ever print am into log or run record.
Pagination
Cursors, page numbers, offsets, Link headers, and di API wey dey signal say e don end by returning empty array. Just talk which shape e be and di step go waka through di whole set.
Rate limits
One ceiling per connection, wey every workflow wey dey use am go respect. When provider answer 429 with Retry-After, di step go wait dat long instead of dey hammer am.
Retries and backoff
Transient failures go dey retry with gap wey dey increase and one cap. One step na pure function of im inputs, so retry go re-run di step itself, no be to re-run di whole run.
Awkward payloads
JSON, form encoding, XML, plain text, multipart uploads. Dem go parse responses into fields wey you fit call by name, including di ones wey nest four levels down.
Timeouts
One limit per step, so one slow dependency no go hold worker while everything behind am dey queue. Wetin go happen when di limit reach na your decision, per step.
If e fit speak HTTP, di conversation don already start.
Incoming webhooks, wey dem take serious
Every workflow fit get one URL wey go start am. Dat URL go verify signatures — HMAC for di shapes wey common providers dey use, and shared secret where dat one na all di sender fit manage. Unsigned request to workflow wey dey expect signature go dey rejected and recorded, dem no go quietly process am.
Deduplication dey use di payload own identifier, so sender wey retry because e no see your 200 on time go get one run instead of three. Dem go keep malformed payloads, with di reason why dem reject am, because di commonest cause of mysterious gap inside automation na sender wey change im mind about one field.
Di systems wey only sabi speak CSV
Dem dey exist. One file go appear on SFTP server at four for morning, or e go arrive as attachment, or dem go drop am inside shared folder. One workflow fit dey watch for am, read am, and treat each row as one record — including di file wey get byte-order mark, semicolon separators and header row for Polish, because na so di export really look like.
To go di other way sef dey work: one workflow fit gather file together and put am where di other system dey expect to find am, and dat one na often di only interface wey one software from 2006 get.
- ⚡Wetin dey start amNew file on di supplier SFTP:
stock-2026-09-09.csv. - 2ParseSemicolon dem, byte-order mark, Polish header dem. 4 118 row dem.
- 3NormaliseDem check currency codes against reference data; dem reject two as invalid.
- 4Push amHTTP
PATCHinside batch of 200, e follow rate limit. - !ExceptionsTwo rows wey dem file for one person, with di row number and di reason. Di other 4 116 pass through.
Steps wey call model: 0Cost of dis run: nothing
Where credentials dey stay
Dem encrypt am, dem call am by name, e dey scoped to di workspace wey own am, and dem no go ever render am inside run log, error message or support talk. A run record go show say one step authenticate as supplier-sftp; e no go show wetin supplier-sftp be.
If one agency dey run one workflow for thirty clients, e go give each client im own credential set, and di workflow go point to di set instead of di secret. To rotate key na one edit for one place — na di main reason agencies dey come here.
Di limit wey you suppose know: one system wey no get any interface at all — no API, no webhook, no file drop, nothing except person wey dey click inside browser — dis thing or any other honest thing no fit automate am. No headless browser dey here wey dey pretend say na user, because e go break di first time di other side move one button, and e go break quietly.