API & HTTP Requests

What are API & HTTP Requests?

API & HTTP Requests let you connect to any service that has an API — no native integration required. If a tool exposes an endpoint, Autonoly can talk to it. This gives you unlimited flexibility to integrate with CRMs, payment processors, marketing platforms, internal tools, and any other software in your stack.

You get full HTTP control: every method (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE), custom headers, request bodies in any format, query parameters, and complete response handling. Whether you're working with REST APIs, GraphQL endpoints, webhooks, or even legacy SOAP services, the HTTP request node handles it.

When to Use API & HTTP

Use HTTP requests when:

• The service you need doesn't have a native integration

• You need fine-grained control over request parameters

• You're working with internal or private APIs

• You want to trigger or receive webhooks

• You need to interact with GraphQL APIs

For common tools like Google Sheets, Slack, and Notion, native integrations are faster to set up. Use HTTP requests for everything else.

Authentication Made Easy

Most APIs require authentication, and Autonoly supports all the common patterns:

Supported Auth Methods

• Bearer tokens — the most common API auth pattern. Add your token once and it's injected into every request header automatically

• API keys — pass keys as headers, query parameters, or in the request body, depending on what the API expects

• OAuth2 — full OAuth2 flow support with automatic token refresh. Connect once and Autonoly handles token expiration and renewal

• Basic auth — username/password authentication encoded in the Authorization header

Credential Security

All API keys, tokens, and credentials are stored with AES-256 encryption. They're decrypted only at the moment of execution and never appear in logs, the workflow UI, or error messages. See Security features for full details on how credentials are managed and protected.

Response Handling

Getting data back from APIs is just as important as sending requests. Autonoly automatically parses responses and makes the data available to downstream nodes.

Automatic Parsing

• JSON responses — parsed automatically into structured objects you can reference by field name

• XML responses — converted to navigable object structures

• HTML responses — available as raw text for processing with AI content tools or custom parsing

• Binary responses — files, images, and documents can be saved or forwarded

Data Extraction from Responses

Use JSONPath expressions to grab exactly the fields you need from complex API responses. For example, extract just the email addresses from a CRM response, or pull specific metrics from an analytics API.

Status Code Handling

Route your workflow based on response status codes:

• 2xx success — proceed to the next step with the response data

• 4xx client errors — route to error handling or retry with different parameters

• 5xx server errors — trigger retry logic with exponential backoff

Combine status code handling with Logic & Flow for sophisticated error recovery patterns.

Webhook Triggers

Webhooks let external services trigger your automations in real-time. Instead of polling for changes, your workflow starts instantly when an event occurs.

How Webhooks Work

1. Autonoly generates a unique webhook URL for your workflow
2. Register that URL in the external service (GitHub, Stripe, Shopify, etc.)
3. When an event occurs, the service sends a POST request to your webhook URL
4. Your workflow starts automatically with the event payload as input

Common Webhook Sources

• GitHub — trigger on push, pull request, issue, or release events

• Stripe — react to payment, subscription, or invoice events

• Shopify — respond to order, product, or customer events

• Custom services — any system that can send HTTP POST requests

Payload Processing

Incoming webhook payloads are automatically parsed and available as variables in your workflow. Use Logic & Flow conditional branches to route different event types to different processing paths.

Signature validation ensures webhooks come from legitimate sources, not spoofed requests.

Building API Pipelines

Pagination Handling

Many APIs return data in pages. Use Logic & Flow loop nodes to iterate through paginated responses:

1. Make the initial request
2. Check if there's a next page cursor or URL in the response
3. Loop until all pages are collected
4. Merge results and pass to the next step

Rate Limiting and Retry

Autonoly includes built-in protections for reliable API interactions:

• Request throttling — configure maximum requests per second to stay within API rate limits

• Automatic retry — failed requests are retried with configurable delay

• Exponential backoff — retry delays increase progressively to avoid overwhelming the API

• Timeout handling — configurable per-request timeouts with fallback behavior

Example: Lead Enrichment Pipeline

1. Fetch a list of leads from your CRM API
2. For each lead, call a data enrichment API (like Clearbit or Apollo) to get company details
3. Push enriched records to Google Sheets
4. Notify your sales team on Slack with a summary of new high-value leads

When native integrations cover your most-used tools, HTTP requests fill every remaining gap. Together, they ensure you can connect Autonoly to literally any software in your workflow.

Browse the templates library for pre-built API workflow templates. Check the pricing page for details on request limits per plan.