Created a Zapier integration for Gleebeam
by Viesturs MarnauzaI've wanted Gleebeam to have a Zapier integration ever since I came up with the idea around 6 months ago. I'm happy to announce I've finally built it!
The integration significantly improves the ease of connecting different apps to Gleebeam. It took around two days to build including the research I had to do to understand how to make it authenticate with and securely get user data from Firebase. The Zapier platform also had some bugs which slowed things down for me - since then they've reported to me that the bugs have been fixed though!
There are two ways to build a Zapier integration:
- Using the Zapier CLI. This sets up a Node project for you and allows you to push updates to the Zapier platform. You get more control over your code, better version control and the ability to include third-party packages.
- Using their visual builder. Here all set-up happens in their web integration builder. You define your authentication endpoints, triggers and actions right in the browser. For most of these things, you can also switch to editing code snippets that make and parse the HTTP requests the integration will have to make to your API.
I started with the CLI, but, because of a nasty bug that prevented me from pushing any code to the platform, I switched to the visual builder. In general, it works fine but it was not always clear to me by reading their docs how it all holds together - i.e. how the integration's state is saved and how can different input fields dynamically interact with one another. So I went through a pretty brutal trial & error process but, in the end, it seems to have turned out well!
Are you using Firebase and want to build a Zapier integration? I have a tip for you. Implement all authentication and data fetching using Firebase's REST API. This was not obvious to me at first as I had been used to only using the Firebase SDK to make all my auth and database requests. Knowing this initially could've saved me a few hours.
Are you a Zapier user eager to test out new automation possibilities? Use the link below to try out the Gleebeam integration! You'll need a Gleebeam account with a created notification template.
To check out Gleebeam, visit https://gleebeam.com
To check out the Zapier integration, visit https://zapier.com/developer/public-invite/73037/128ec7cdebf34117e0f135b701383a15/
-
2
Hey @viestursm! Really cool.
Came across your post through a google search. Do you have any code snippets that you can share where it comes to handling firebase auth with a zapier integration? Is it preferable to do that vs. creating your own endpoint and handling auth with a user-specific api key or something (or is that unnecessary work)?
-
3
Hey, sorry for the late response.
I implemented auth using Google's custom tokens.
-
I have a cloud function that generates a custom token for the user upon their first log-in in the OAuth pop-up Zapier creates:
https://firebase.google.com/docs/auth/admin/create-custom-tokens -
The token is passed from the OAuth pop-up back to Zapier via a redirect. I then use it to log users in and access their data via Google Cloud services endpoints:
https://cloud.google.com/identity-platform/docs/reference/rest/v1/accounts/signInWithCustomToken
https://cloud.google.com/identity-platform/docs/reference/rest/v1/accounts/lookup -
When the token expires the Zapier integration calls a refresh endpoint but lately, this hasn't been working too smoothly so I might have a bug somewhere with this.
https://cloud.google.com/identity-platform/docs/reference/rest/client#section-refresh-token
Hope this helps!
-
1
Hey Viestursm, what do you mean with "The token is passed from the OAuth pop-up back to Zapier via a redirect." ? Redirect to what address?
-
2
When Zapier creates an OAuth pop-up to your site, it includes a redirect_uri in the query parameters. After you generate the user's access token you direct back to this redirect_uri, including the token in the query params. This is how Zapier knows that a response has been received from your app and can close the pop-up and proceed.
I hope this helps!
-
3
Found my way through this, wrote a Tuto for those who need more info: https://medium.com/@nathangilson/how-to-add-oauth-v2-to-a-zapier-integration-with-firebase-6fba2a12cd54
-
1
This comment was deleted 5 years ago.
-
1
This comment was deleted 5 years ago.
-
1
This comment was deleted 5 years ago.
-
1
This comment was deleted 5 years ago.
-
-
-
-
-
2
It's a cute idea.
Really cute.-
1
Thanks a lot! Can you see a situation where it could be useful to you?
-
1
Nice ABC's - Always Be Selling :D
I'm not much into the screens thing but I know some people are into them, will be sending it to someone
You should probably be marketing to like lower level sales managers, just a thought based on your landing page.
-
1
Would love to help your screen-loving friends set Gleebeam up! Let me know if they have any feedback.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm building a separate landing page for the sales use-case. It's almost done here: https://gleebeam.com/sales
-
-
-
-
2
Congrats!
I've added your integration to my directory of beta/invite-only zaps: https://betazaps.luhhu.com - hopefully you can get a few more users for it :)
-
1
Amazing, thanks a lot!
-
