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Cflow Zapier integrationAutomate Cflow with Zapier.

The Cflow Zapier integration gives you 2 triggers and 2 actions, with no search step. Both triggers are instant, so a new request or a stage change reaches Zapier straight away, even on the free plan. Here is what each one does, what it costs and where it trips.

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Overview

What the Cflow Zapier integration actually does

Cflow is cloud workflow software: you design business applications made of processes and stages, and requests travel through them. Hooking it to Zapier works in both directions. Cflow tells another app the moment a request appears or reaches a stage, and another app can open a request in Cflow without anyone retyping it.

Three outcomes cover most real setups. First, a heads-up when work lands: New Request fires as soon as someone files a request in a workflow, and the next step can post it to your team chat or log it in a spreadsheet. Second, a hand-off at the right moment: Request Reaches a Process Stage waits for one specific stage, say finance sign-off, and only then pushes the request to the next tool. Third, requests that open themselves: a form, a CRM deal or a ticket elsewhere becomes a Cflow request through Create a Request and Submit, or a parked draft through Create a Draft Request.

Now the honest part. Zapier offers no search for Cflow, so a Zap cannot look up an existing request, read its status or update it. It cannot approve, reject or close one either. Everything starts with a new request or a stage, and everything ends with a new request. If your plan relies on editing what already sits in Cflow, this connector will not get you there.

Same app, other tool: the Cflow Make integration page covers the Make side, and Make vs Zapier lays out how the two differ.

Vocabulary

Zapier words in one minute

Seven Zapier words, defined once here and then used without a reminder. If you already build Zaps, skip straight to the cost.

Zap
One automation on Zapier. It opens with a single trigger and carries on with one or more actions, every time the trigger event shows up.
Trigger
The event that starts the Zap. For Cflow, that is a request being filed, or a request arriving on a stage you picked.
Action
The work the Zap does once started. The two Cflow actions both create a request: one submits it, the other parks it as a draft.
Task
What Zapier counts and bills: one action that finished without error. Your monthly allowance is a number of these.
Polling vs instant
Polling: Zapier asks the app for news on a timer. Instant: the app calls Zapier itself when the event happens. Both Cflow triggers are instant.
Filter
A checkpoint between steps. The request goes on only if it meets the rule you wrote; if not, the run ends there and nothing else happens.
Connection
The link between your Cflow login and Zapier. You set it up once, and each Cflow step in any Zap picks it from a list.
Cost

What a Cflow Zap really costs

Good news first: Zapier does not class Cflow as a premium app, so a free account can use it. What you pay for is tasks, and tasks only come from actions.

  • Premium appNo, free plan works
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • Trigger costZero tasks
  • Cflow triggers2 instant, 0 polling

Requests arriving in Cflow cost nothing by themselves: the trigger is free, however busy the workflow gets. The meter runs on actions that succeed, one task each. Submit a request and post a chat message in the same Zap, and every run costs two. A failed action is not billed. The free plan allows 100 tasks a month and as many Zaps as you like, but each Zap stops at two steps. A filter or a second action turns it into a multi-step Zap, which means a paid plan. The polling grid below is there for reference only: neither Cflow trigger polls.

Connect

Connect Cflow to Zapier in 3 steps

  1. 01

    Open your connections

    In your Zapier account, go to the Apps page and click + Add connection. You need an existing Cflow account first, with access to the workflows the Zap will touch.

  2. 02

    Pick Cflow

    Type Cflow in the search box of the dialog, select it from the results, then click Add connection. A new browser tab opens on the Cflow side so you can sign in.

  3. 03

    Sign in and allow access

    Log in to Cflow in that tab and grant Zapier access to the account. The connection now shows up in your list, and every Cflow step you add later can reuse it.

First Zap

Your first Cflow Zap, step by step

GoalWhen a request reaches the purchasing stage of one workflow, open a matching draft in another process, but only for requests that meet a rule you set.

  1. 01

    Create the Zap

    Start a new Zap and choose Cflow as the app that starts it, with Request Reaches a Process Stage as the event. Pick the connection you made earlier.

  2. 02

    Set the trigger

    Select the workflow, then the stage to watch. Both fields are required, and the Zap ignores every other stage of that workflow.

  3. 03

    Test the trigger

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent requests from the connected account, so you map the next steps on a real one instead of a guess.

  4. 04

    Add the filter

    Add a Filter step from the plus icon and set the field, the rule and the value. Mind the rule type: a text rule on a number field never passes. This makes the Zap multi-step, so a paid plan is needed.

  5. 05

    Add the action

    Add Cflow again with Create a Draft Request. Choose the process stage and the initiator, then map the fields you need from the trigger.

  6. 06

    Test and publish

    Test the action and check that the draft appears in Cflow. Then click Publish to switch the Zap on. Only requests reaching the stage after that moment will run it.

Triggers

Cflow triggers on Zapier

2 events start a Zap when something happens in Cflow, and 2 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

New Request

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new request is created in a workflow.”

Every time somebody files a fresh request inside the Cflow workflow you pick, this trigger passes it to Zapier. It is the wider net of the two: any new request counts, wherever it goes next in the process.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
a team lead wants a chat message or a spreadsheet row for each leave request, the second it is filed.
Watch out
the Workflow field is required, so one Zap covers a single workflow; three workflows to watch means three Zaps.
2

Request Reaches a Process Stage

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new request reaches a process stage in a workflow.”

This one stays quiet until a request lands on the exact stage you name, then passes it on. Requests sitting on earlier or later stages never reach it, which makes it the trigger for hand-offs that belong to one precise moment of the process.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
push a purchase request to accounting only once it arrives on the manager review stage.
Watch out
both Workflow and Process Stage are required, so a Zap follows one stage of one workflow; a second stage needs a second Zap.
Actions

Cflow actions on Zapier

Cflow gives you 2 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create a Draft Request

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new request in the selected process, populates the fields and saves it as a draft. This also emails the process initiators that a new draft request is waiting to be submitted.”

Opens a new request in the process you choose, fills in the fields from earlier steps and leaves it as a draft. Cflow also emails the initiators of that process to say a draft is waiting.

When to use it
a web form collects most of the details, and a person still needs to check them before submitting.
Watch out
Process Stage and Initiator Username are both required.
2

Create a Request and Submit

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new request in the selected process, populates the fields and submits it for processing. All field validations and rules are evaluated and the request may move to next stage based on the rule conditions. Also triggers the necessary email notifications.”

Goes one step further than the draft: the request is created, filled and submitted in one go. Cflow then evaluates its own field validations and rules, may move the request to its next stage and sends the usual notifications.

When to use it
a signed deal in the CRM should start an onboarding process with no human in between.
Watch out
nobody reviews the request before those rules run, so test the step on real data from the trigger before you publish.
When it breaks

When a Cflow Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to Cflow and lists no limit of its own for it. What can go wrong is therefore the generic Zapier behaviour, seen through Cflow requests.

Three traps, all silent: the Zap stays switched on and looks fine while it misses requests or spends tasks. If a run still puzzles you, the Zapier troubleshooting page goes through the usual checks.

  • The backlog stays in Cflow

    Requests filed before you published the Zap never reach it. Only new requests and new stage arrivals count; moving the old ones is a separate job.

  • A Zap that feeds itself

    Watch New Request on a workflow and create a request in that same workflow, and each run starts the next one. The task count drains fast.

  • Bulk imports get held back

    If a migration drops a large batch of requests at once, Zapier's flood protection can hold the trigger back instead of running every one.
Need help

Need help automating Cflow with Zapier?

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FAQ

Cflow Zapier integration: frequent questions

01Is the Cflow Zapier integration free?
Yes, at the start. Cflow is not a premium app on Zapier, so the free plan can run it, with 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The catch is the size of each Zap: the free plan only allows two steps, one trigger and one action. A Cflow trigger followed by a single Cflow action fits. Add a filter to keep only some requests, or a second action, and the Zap turns multi-step, which needs a paid plan. Plan prices change often, so check the current grid on Zapier before you commit.
02How many Zapier tasks does a Cflow Zap use?
One task per action that succeeds, and nothing for the trigger. A Zap that watches New Request and then creates one draft spends one task each time a request comes in. If it also sends a chat message, that is two tasks per run. Actions that fail are not counted, so a request rejected by a Cflow validation rule costs nothing, though nothing gets created either. Waiting for new requests costs nothing, however many arrive in a day.
03Does Cflow trigger Zapier in real time?
Yes. Both Cflow triggers, New Request and Request Reaches a Process Stage, are instant: Cflow reports the event to Zapier as soon as it happens. The polling interval of your plan, 15 minutes on Free, does not apply to them. That is good news on the free plan, where polling apps lag behind. In the editor, a Zap built on one of these triggers shows a lightning bolt. The type comes from Cflow itself and cannot be switched from Zapier.
04What does it take to connect Cflow to Zapier?
An active Cflow account and access to the workflows and processes the Zap should read or write. The connection takes three moves: open Apps in Zapier, click + Add connection and pick Cflow, then sign in to Cflow in the new tab and allow access. Make sure the account can see the users you plan to name as initiators, because both actions require an Initiator Username. Once saved, the connection is reused by every Cflow step.
05Why does a submitted Cflow request not behave like a manual one?
Because Create a Request and Submit goes through the full Cflow machinery. Zapier fills the fields and submits; Cflow then evaluates every field validation and rule of the process, may move the request to its next stage and sends its notifications. Both actions also ask for a Process Stage and an Initiator Username. When you need a person to look first, use Create a Draft Request instead: it parks the request and emails the process initiators.
06What if the Cflow operation you need is not on Zapier?
Then this connector cannot do it, and it is worth knowing early. Zapier offers two triggers and two actions for Cflow, and no search: no way to find an existing request, update it, approve it or read its status. The workaround is to design around new requests and stages. If an update step is essential, compare what the Make connector offers for Cflow, or talk to a team that builds these flows every week.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Cflow?
It depends on your criteria, not on a winner. On Zapier, both Cflow triggers are instant even on the free plan, but there are only four operations, no search, and the free plan stops at two steps. The site has a separate Cflow page for Make, worth reading operation by operation if you need more than new requests. For any tool, write down the operations your flow needs, then check which connector actually offers them for Cflow before you choose.
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