What is The Drupal ZaPIER APP
https://github.com/jodyHamilton/drupal-zapier
Zapier is a SAAS integrator that makes it easy for non-coders to connect systems. They have support for many systems, for example, Slack, Salesforce, Jira, Gmail, letting you map data from one system into another on creation.
I started a Drupal Zapier app. It requires Drupal 8 and JSON:API module. It lets you map Drupal entity data (content, users, etc) to any other Zapier app, or go the other way and create Drupal entity data from some other source.
Help Needed
In order to make the Zapier app publicly available, I need some Zapier users using it in enabled Zaps. If you have a Drupal 8 site and are a Zapier user or just Zap-curious please contact me for an invite. More info at https://github.com/jodyHamilton/drupal-zapier
Collaborators also welcome in Github. I think we are going to need a trigger for entity update (currently it's just for creation).
Background/My Journey
I started using Zapier recently because I wanted to integrate with a Gatsby site we're running on Netlify. I wanted to spin up a demo site when visitors filled out the contact form for my Drupal 8-based Application management software ApplyCycle.com. (Apply Cycle is a Drupal-8 platform, but ApplyCycle.com, its marketing site, is a static Gatsby site.) Netlify had limited options for integrating with their forms, so I explored their Zapier option. I ended up using the custom Python script option in Zapier to trigger a demo site build (via another Zivtech project, Probo) and then email the visitor with a login link.
After that success, I got into some Jira Zapier stuff. I set up a new Gmail address so that when it receives an email it creates a ticket in Jira and pings us in the Engineering Slack room. This way we can jump on critical support requests a client emails without waiting for a project manager to make a ticket. I found this preferable to the Jira plugins for this sort of thing which tend to be expensive and complex to the point of being useless.
I started thinking about a Zapier integration for Apply Cycle so that when applications are created they can be fed into a CRM or reporting system or just email staff. This could be a competitive advantage on other application management systems which have limited integration options. As soon as I started though I realized since JSON:API was the best way to get data from Apply Cycle, I may as well make a generic Zapier Drupal app instead of anything specific to Apply Cycle.
I went to PEAK Grant-making conference last week in Denver to learn more about the Grant Management Software market I'm getting into with ApplyCycle. Afterward, I got trapped in the Denver airport in a blizzard for a long time, but instead of freaking out on the phone (which seemed to be a popular option) I used my hyper-focus to block it out. So now we have a Zapier Drupal app. JSON:API does all the heavy lifting.