Hello Pipedream

Pipedream is a "low-code" service that connects various applications’s APIs. Generous free tier available.

Pipedream enables us to host and run "workflows", a series of processes/steps similar to GitHub Actions’ workflows.

Trying the Quick Start

Their "quick start" guide demonstrates an HTTP triggered workflow in 3 steps:

1. Trigger a workflow on HTTP requests
2. Retrieve data from an API using Node.js and npm
3. Deploy and test your changes.

I'm following the guide loosely and writing down the steps I take.

First, click "New" from pipedream.com/workflows, which opens the "Add a trigger" dialog. A trigger is an "event listener" of sorts that causes a workflow to run.

Available triggers:

• HTTP webhooks ----> choose this for the tutorial
  • The webhook URL is provided by Pipedream in this format: https://xxxxxx.m.pipedream.net
• custom schedule (run every x hours)
• new emails / RSS feed
• third-party service events (eg. new Telegram message, new message in Discord channel, etc)

A test event is provided for the tutorial. After clicking "send", the web dashboard shows my event with the test event data. Like in GH Actions, we can access the event data throughout the entire workflow.

You should see the contents of the test event along with other step exports at the right. You can reference this data in later steps via the steps object (the event object is also a provided as an alias for steps.trigger.event).

(Personal note: Need to learn more about the data model.)

Next, click "Continue" from the test event data or the "+" to add a step.

As with the trigger, many actions are available:

• run custom code ---> choose this for the tutorial
  • run Node.js, Python, Go
• send HTTP request
• third-party service actions (eg. add row to Google Sheets, send message to Slack)

In the custom code block, we can write Node.js code as usual (eg. get data from an external API). We can import from external libraries, eg. axios. It's like having a serverless/lambda funtion without setting up anything. IMO this is the highlight of Pipedream's offering, which sets it apart from similar services like IFTTT and Integromat.

Last (and quite self-explanatory), save and click deploy.

Thoughts

This is awesome!

Took me ~5 minutes to complete this quick start while taking notes. I haven't fully grokked it but it looks interesting and I'd like to explore this more. Super excited!

---

In:

• JAMstack and serverless MOC
• CI CD MOC