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FogBugz Zapier integrationAutomate FogBugz with Zapier.

The FogBugz Zapier integration offers 10 triggers and 6 actions, with no search step. Only one trigger, New Case Event, is instant. The nine others wait for Zapier's next check, so picking the right one decides how fast your team hears about a bug.

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Overview

What the FogBugz Zapier integration is for

FogBugz is a hosted bug tracker: cases, projects, areas, milestones. The integration lets Zapier react when something appears or changes in FogBugz, and lets other events create projects, cases, milestones or users there for you. It runs both ways, from the free plan.

The single most useful thing to know first: of the ten triggers, New Case Event is the only instant one. It reacts straight away, even on the free plan, while the nine others wait for the interval of your plan. If speed matters, start from it.

Three results that work well. Customers kept in the loop: New Case Event followed by Create Email From Case sends an email from the case that just moved. Projects that arrive ready: New Project plus Create Milestone gives each new project its first milestone. Faster onboarding: New Person (User) can open a starter case with Create Case for each newcomer.

What Zapier does not do here: no search step, so a Zap cannot look up an existing case or project by itself; no update, close or delete action either. All six actions create something.

The FogBugz Make integration covers the same app elsewhere, and n8n vs Zapier lays out the criteria if you are still choosing.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

The words you will meet in the editor, each explained once and then used as is.

Zap
The automation you build: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time the trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier waits for it.
Action
What the Zap does once it has started: the step that creates, sends or moves something for you.
Task
What Zapier bills: one action completed successfully. Your plan is a count of those, not of Zaps.
Polling trigger
A trigger Zapier checks on a timer. It asks FogBugz for recent items and keeps only those it has not seen.
Instant trigger
A trigger the app reports itself, the moment the event happens. The editor marks it with a lightning bolt.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when the incoming data meets your condition, and stops it otherwise.
Cost

What a FogBugz Zap really costs

FogBugz is not a premium app: it runs on the free plan.

  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps only
  • Triggers and checksNever billed
  • Filter or second actionMulti-step Zap, paid plan

Triggers are free, and so are Zapier's checks for new data, however often they happen. Every action that succeeds is one task, counted separately: a Zap that creates a case and then sends an email uses two tasks per run. An action that fails is not counted. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, but each Zap stops at one trigger and one action. A filter or a second action makes it multi-step, which needs a paid plan.

Connect

Connect your FogBugz account

  1. 01

    Start from Apps

    In Zapier, open Apps and click + Add connection. You need a FogBugz account, with read or write access on any project you do not own and want the Zap to touch.

  2. 02

    Select FogBugz

    Search FogBugz in the dialog, pick it, then click Add connection. A new tab opens where FogBugz asks you to sign in with the account the Zap will use.

  3. 03

    Allow access

    Sign in with the account the Zap should act as, then grant Zapier access. Every FogBugz step in every Zap reuses this connection from then on. One connection is enough.

First Zap

Your first Zap: every new project gets a milestone

GoalWhen a project is created in FogBugz, Zapier adds a first milestone to it.

  1. 01

    Build: pick the trigger

    Create a Zap, choose FogBugz and the event New Project, then your connection. It is a polling trigger, so on the free plan it is checked every 15 minutes.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Click Test. Zapier brings back the three most recent items of the account; pick a real project. Create a dummy project first if the account has none.

  3. 03

    Add Create Milestone

    Add the action Create Milestone. The project and the name are required: map the project to the one the trigger test brought back, and type the name your team uses.

  4. 04

    Test the action

    Run the action once, then open the project in FogBugz to check the milestone sits where you expected. Fix the mapping before going further.

  5. 05

    Publish

    Click Publish to switch it on. Two steps, so it runs on the free plan, and each new project costs one task, while the trigger checks cost nothing.

Triggers

FogBugz triggers

10 events start a Zap when something happens in FogBugz, and one of them is instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

New Area

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new area is created in a project.”

Watches for areas added inside a project. Each one Zapier has not seen yet starts the Zap once, at the next check.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a QA lead wants to know each time a developer carves out a new area, to plan test coverage.
Watch out
areas created before the Zap was published never start it.
2

New Case (For Your Server)

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new case is opened. Note that the fields are and'ed. If your FogBugz site is running Ocelot and has more than 50,000 new cases per hour, some cases may be lost.”

Picks up cases as they are opened, and lets you narrow which ones with several conditions. Those conditions combine: a case must match all of them.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a support manager wants every new case from one project copied into the team's routine.
Watch out
on a FogBugz site running Ocelot with more than 50,000 new cases per hour, some cases may be lost.
3

New Case in a Filter (For Your Server)

Polling trigger

In Zapier“If your filter takes too long to generate results or your filter has more than 50,000 cases and your FogBugz site is running Ocelot, this trigger will not work.”

Uses one of your saved FogBugz filters and starts the Zap for each new case that lands in it. You define the criteria in FogBugz, not in Zapier.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
your team already keeps a filter of critical bugs and wants those, and only those, sent on.
Watch out
the filter is required, and a slow filter or one past 50,000 cases on Ocelot stops the trigger working.
4

New Case Event

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when something happens to a case. The events that cause this trigger to fire can be customized. Note that the fields are and'ed. This trigger can be configured to only fire for cases in a named filter.”

Fires when something happens to a case, and you choose which events count. It can also be limited to cases in a named filter, and its conditions combine.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
an on-call engineer needs to hear about a case the moment one of the ticked events happens to it.
Watch out
the triggering events are required, so pick them carefully; each one you tick can run the Zap.
5

New Category

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new category is created.”

Reports categories newly created on the site, one run per category Zapier has not met before.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an admin wants a record each time someone adds a category, to keep reports consistent.
Watch out
categories that existed before the Zap was published never start it.
6

New Milestone

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new milestone is created.”

Notices each new milestone created in FogBugz, at Zapier's next check.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a product manager wants a release checklist case opened whenever a milestone is planned.
Watch out
pairing it with Create Milestone in one Zap makes it set itself off again and again.
7

New Person (User)

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new person (user) is created.”

Fires on each person added as a user of the FogBugz site. It follows your team as it grows, not your customers.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an engineering manager wants each new developer to get a starter case on day one.
Watch out
with Create New User as the action of the same Zap, it loops.
8

New Project

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new project is created.”

Spots projects as soon as Zapier's next check finds them. A new project is often the moment to set up everything around it.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
an agency that opens one project per client wants a default milestone and area created each time.
Watch out
adding both a milestone and an area means two actions, so a paid plan.
9

New Status

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new status is created.”

Tracks statuses added to the site, which is a change to the way cases move for the whole team.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
a team lead wants a record of every status added to the process.
Watch out
this follows new statuses, not cases changing status; for that, New Case Event is the right trigger.
10

New Tag

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new tag is created.”

Catches every tag created on the site, each one passed to the Zap once.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on the free one
When to use it
someone who keeps the tag list clean wants to see each new one before it spreads.
Watch out
it reacts to a tag being created, not to a tag being added to a case.
Actions

FogBugz actions

FogBugz gives you 6 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create Area

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new area in the project of your choice.”

Adds an area to a project you select, so cases can be sorted by part of the product from the start.

When to use it
every new client project needs the same set of areas, and typing them by hand is a chore.
Watch out
the project name and the area name are both required.
2

Create Case

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new case.”

Logs a new case in the project of your choice. It is the action that turns reports from other tools into tracked work.

When to use it
an error report or a support request should land in FogBugz as a case.
Watch out
the project is required, and a Zap that starts from a case trigger and creates cases can loop.
3

Create Email From Case

Action

In Zapier“Sends a new email from an existing case if the "correspondent" field has not been set.”

Sends an email from a case that already exists, from a mailbox you pick.

When to use it
a customer who reported a bug should get a written reply sent from that case.
Watch out
it only works when the case's correspondent field is not set yet, and the sender mailbox, recipient, case ID and message are required.
4

Create Milestone

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new project specific or global milestone.”

Creates a milestone, either for one project or global, ready to receive cases.

When to use it
a release date agreed elsewhere should show up as a milestone in FogBugz.
Watch out
the project and the milestone name are required.
5

Create Project

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new project.”

Opens a new project in FogBugz, named as you choose and tied to a primary contact.

When to use it
a signed client in your sales tool should become a project without anyone copying the name over.
Watch out
the primary contact is required and has to be someone on the FogBugz site.
6

Create New User

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new user.”

Adds a person to your FogBugz site with a full name and an email address.

When to use it
a developer who joins the company should get a FogBugz account without a ticket to the admin.
Watch out
the full name and the email are both required.
When it breaks

When a FogBugz Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to FogBugz. The traps below come from the trigger descriptions and from Zapier's general limits.

None of these shows up as a clear error. You notice a case that never arrived or a task count that ran out early. If you are stuck, the Zapier troubleshooting page is the next stop.

  • Busy Ocelot sites can lose cases

    On a site running Ocelot with more than 50,000 new cases per hour, New Case (For Your Server) may miss some.

  • A heavy filter stops the trigger

    New Case in a Filter stops working if the filter takes too long to return results, or holds more than 50,000 cases on Ocelot.

  • Old cases never fire

    A Zap only sees what happens after it is published. Cases opened before that do not start it, and moving them is a separate job.

  • A Zap that triggers itself

    New Case with Create Case, or New Milestone with Create Milestone: the Zap writes where it watches, runs again and eats tasks.

  • Bulk imports get held back

    After a migration, a trigger may return a huge batch at once. Zapier's flood protection can hold it instead of running it.

  • No double runs

    On polling triggers, Zapier remembers what it has seen, so the same case or project never starts the Zap twice.
Need help

Need help automating FogBugz with Zapier?

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FAQ

FogBugz Zapier integration: questions

01Is the FogBugz Zapier integration free?
Yes, on Zapier's side. FogBugz is not a premium app, so it works on the free plan, with 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The limit is the shape of the Zap: the free plan builds two steps only, one trigger and one action. Add a filter or a second action and the Zap becomes multi-step, which needs a paid plan. A Zap like New Project to Create Milestone fits the free plan as it is.
02How many tasks does a FogBugz Zap use?
One per successful action, per run. The trigger costs nothing, and neither do Zapier's checks for new data, however often they happen. A Zap that sends one email per case event uses one task per event; one that creates a case and then an email uses two. A failed action is not counted. Watch New Case Event with many triggering events ticked: each event runs the action again. Narrow them down to the ones that matter.
03Does the FogBugz integration work in real time?
Only through New Case Event. It is the single instant trigger: FogBugz tells Zapier as soon as the event happens, whatever the plan, and the editor shows a lightning bolt. The nine other triggers are polling triggers, checked every 15 minutes on Free, 2 on Professional, and 1 on Team and Enterprise. On paid plans, the check interval can be changed and a check can be run by hand. Pick New Case Event when minutes count.
04What does it take to connect FogBugz to Zapier?
A FogBugz account and a Zapier account. You add the connection once from Apps with + Add connection, sign in to FogBugz in the new tab and grant access. Then plan for the required fields: Create Email From Case needs a sender mailbox and an existing case ID, and Create Project needs a primary contact. Anything you do not own needs read or write access. After that, every Zap reuses the connection.
05Why does a FogBugz Zap miss some cases?
Two limits come straight from the trigger descriptions. New Case (For Your Server) may lose cases on a site running Ocelot with more than 50,000 new cases per hour. New Case in a Filter stops working if the filter is slow to return results or holds more than 50,000 cases on Ocelot. Keep filters narrow, or move to New Case Event, which FogBugz reports to Zapier itself, with no interval in between.
06What if the FogBugz operation you need does not exist?
Then Zapier cannot do it with this app today. There is no search, no update, no close and no delete action: the six actions create projects, areas, milestones, cases, users and emails. Work around it by starting from a trigger that already carries the data, or keep that step manual. If closing or editing cases is central to your process, check what other platforms offer for FogBugz before you design it.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for FogBugz?
Decide by criteria, not by name. On Zapier you get one instant trigger, nine polling ones, no search step, and billing per successful action. Compare which FogBugz operations each platform covers, how each bills a run, and whether you need logic such as filters, which on Zapier means a paid plan. Who will look after the Zap matters as much as price. On the free plan, Zapier stays at one trigger and one action per Zap.
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