How to Create a Template
1. Before You Start: Pre-Template Checklist
✅ Check the connector’s authentication type Determine which authentication is required:
OAuth 2.0Session AuthAPI KeyBasic Auth
✅ Do you have a test account? It is highly recommended to use a dedicated test account with full API access during development.
2. Start Building the Template
Select the Template Type
First, choose the type of integration:
Polling Template: The system will fetch data at regular intervals. You can configure the polling interval (e.g., every 5 minutes, hourly).
Webhook Template: The system will react to real-time events pushed from the source system.
There are two kinds of webhook setups:
Basic Webhooks – where the endpoint simply receives incoming events.
Subscription Webhooks – where the system must register a webhook URL via API.
Choosing the correct type depends on how the source system delivers or exposes data.
Additional Settings
Collections: Organize your templates into collections. These serve as categories to help your customers filter and browse templates more easily.
Groups: Assign templates to user groups. Only users in the assigned group(s) will be able to see and use the template.
These settings help keep your integrations structured and access-controlled.
3. Configure the Trigger
Drag and drop the Connector into the Trigger field, then select the endpoint you want to use. Once selected, you'll see several additional settings—these are called options.
There are two types of options:
FlowMate Options: Settings provided by FlowMate, such as the Array Splitting Key or Snapshot Key.
API Options: Parameters specific to the API you’re connecting to, such as filters, query parameters, or required fields.
These options allow you to tailor the behavior of the integration and control what data is retrieved.
FlowMate Options
Array Splitting Key
Defines which array in the API response should be split into individual objects.
Snapshot Key
A timestamp field (e.g. lastUpdated) used to fetch only newly created or updated records.
Sync Param
Similar to Snapshot Key, but used when the API supports delta queries (returns only changed data).
Other Server
Allows using a server URL not listed in the API spec, useful when APIs have client-specific or external base URLs.
ID Linking
ID linking is used when it is important to work with IDs in further steps in the flows. In this way, IDs can be saved and accessed in further steps.
Skip Import
Depending on the use case, it is important to import existing data or prevent the initial import. For example, it makes sense to prevent the initial import if you want to offer a Slack or Teams integration. By default, the integration always performs an initial import.
Continue on Error
If an error occurs in the execution of a flow in a step, the next steps for this data set are not carried out. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to continue with the steps despite the error. This may be the case, for example, if you are looking for an ID in the second step of the flow. If the ID already exists, a certain step is executed. If the ID does not exist, an error is issued, but the flow can continue and execute another step. A very common use case is, for example, the creation or updating of contacts or calendar entries.
Passthrough
Passthrough ensures that you can access the data for all steps in flows with multiple actions. Passthrough is deactivated by default.
Trigger Params
API Query Parameters are optional key-value pairs added to the URL to filter, sort, or control the response of an API call. They're typically used for:
Filtering: e.g.
?status=activePagination: e.g.
?page=2&limit=50Sorting: e.g.
?sortBy=createdAt&order=descDate ranges: e.g.
?from=2024-01-01&to=2024-02-01
These are specific to the endpoint and are used to filter or limit the API response. They help you control what data is returned and how much of it.
Trigger Mapping
If you want to add additional options to the trigger, such as a dropdown the user can select from, you'll need Trigger Mapping. Check out the Mapping page to learn more about mappings and available mapper types.
4. Configure the Action
To set up the Action, drag the Connector into the Action field and select the endpoint you want to use for the action. Just like with the trigger, you can configure various options—both FlowMate-side and API-specific.
Once the action is selected, you can proceed with the Data Mapping, where you define how data from the trigger is mapped to the action. Learn more about that here:
Step Configuration (Mapping)5. Useful Tips
Node.js Component for Debugging
You can use the built-in Node.js component to:
Test the trigger and inspect real-time returned data
Output data structures using the default debug code
This helps identify how the trigger behaves and simplifies data mapping.
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