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Front Zapier integrationAutomate Front with Zapier.

The Front Zapier integration gives you 5 triggers, 23 actions and 3 searches. Every one of the five triggers is instant, so a Zap built on Front reacts as soon as a message, a comment, a tag or a team rule shows up, free plan included.

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Overview

What the Front Zapier integration does for your support team

The Front Zapier integration plugs your shared inbox into an automation without a line of code. Front warns Zapier when a message comes in, goes out, gets a comment or a tag, or when one of your team rules matches. Zapier then runs the steps you picked: reply, draft, tag, assign, or update the contact and the account behind the thread.

Three results people usually build first:

An acknowledgement that goes out on its own. New Inbound Message followed by Send Reply answers inside the same conversation, and can archive it on the way out. Front itself points to this pairing for auto-replies.

A handoff your team can check. Rule Triggered starts the Zap when a rule you already run in Front matches. Assign or Unassign Conversation routes the thread to a teammate, and Add Comment leaves an internal note explaining why.

Customer records that stay clean. Find Contact, Create Contact and Add Contact Handle keep each email address and phone number on the right person. Create Account and Update Account do the same at company level.

What Zapier will not do here: it never touches conversations that existed before the Zap went live, the tag actions expect tag IDs rather than tag names, and API Request (Beta) only reaches domains tied to Front. Still choosing a platform? Read n8n vs Zapier and Make vs Zapier first.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Seven words you will meet on every screen of the editor. Each one is explained once, here, then used as is.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time that trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier sits and waits for it to happen.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or changes something in an app on your behalf.
Task
The unit Zapier bills. One task equals one action your Zap completes successfully, and your plan counts those.
Polling vs instant
A polling trigger is checked on a timer. An instant trigger is reported by the app the moment the event occurs, with no wait.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when what arrived meets your condition, and stops it quietly in every other case.
Search step
A step that looks up something already stored in an app, so the steps after it can reuse what it found.
Cost

What a Front Zap really costs

Front is not a premium app, so it works from the free plan. The trigger never costs a task. Each action that succeeds costs one, and a failed action costs nothing.

  • Front on the free planYes, not a premium app
  • Trigger0 tasks
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • Front triggers5 out of 5 instant

The free plan gives you 100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps, and Zaps of two steps only: one trigger, one action. Add a second action, a filter or a search, and the Zap turns multi-step, which needs a paid plan. In a Zap with several actions, each success is counted on its own, so three actions cost three times what one does. A few actions take more than one task. The polling grid below does not touch Front, since all five triggers are instant.

Connect

Connect your Front account in three steps

  1. 01

    Open the Apps page

    In your Zapier account, open Apps and click + Add connection. You need a Front account first, plus access to any inbox or conversation you do not own and want the Zap to touch.

  2. 02

    Pick Front

    Type Front in the search box of the dialog that opens, select it in the results, then click Add connection. A new tab opens so you can sign in to Front.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Log in to Front in that tab and allow Zapier to reach the account. From then on, every Front step of every Zap reuses this connection, so you only do it once.

First Zap

Your first Front Zap: auto-acknowledge new emails

GoalEvery new inbound message gets a short acknowledgement in the same thread, then a tag that tells the team it has been answered automatically.

  1. 01

    Build: pick the trigger

    Start a new Zap, choose Front, then New Inbound Message as the event. Then select the Front connection you just created in the previous section.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent items from your account, so you map the next steps on a real message rather than a blank one.

  3. 03

    Add Send Reply

    Add Front, Send Reply. Map the conversation from the trigger into Conversation ID, write the reply body, and decide whether the thread should be archived right after.

  4. 04

    Add the tag

    Add Front, Add Conversation Tags, map the same conversation and type the ID of your tag. This third step makes the Zap multi-step, so it needs a paid plan.

  5. 05

    Test, then Publish

    Test each action once and read what Front sent back, on a real conversation. When both steps look right, click Publish to switch the Zap on.

Triggers

Front triggers

5 events start a Zap when something happens in Front, and 5 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

New Comment

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new comment is posted on a conversation.”

Starts your Zap whenever someone on the team writes an internal comment on a conversation. Comments are where teammates discuss a case, so this trigger lets you push that discussion somewhere else or act on it.

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 support lead wants every comment on escalated threads copied as a comment on a linked conversation, so the account manager follows along.
Watch out
if your Zap uses Add Comment on a conversation the trigger watches, each new note starts the Zap again and loops.
2

Rule Triggered

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when criteria for a team rule is met.”

Hands control to Zapier when one of the rules your team already runs in Front matches. You keep the sorting logic in Front, where agents can read it, and Zapier only handles what happens next.

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 rule spots refund requests, and the Zap assigns them to the billing teammate and leaves a comment.
Watch out
the rule field is mandatory, and a rule only shows up once you select the team where it was built.
3

New Inbound Message

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new message is received.”

Fires on each message your Front inboxes receive. It is the natural starting point for anything that reacts to incoming mail.

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 small e-commerce shop sends an instant acknowledgement with Send Reply, which Front recommends pairing with this exact trigger.
Watch out
only messages received after you publish the Zap count. Last week's backlog stays untouched.
4

New Outbound Message

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a message is sent (either a new message or a reply).”

Reacts to what your team sends out: a brand new message as well as a reply inside a running conversation. Useful when the action you care about is your own answer, not the customer's question.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
once an agent replies, the Zap removes a waiting-for-reply tag with Remove Conversation Tags.
Watch out
never pair it with Send Reply or Send Message on the same inbox. Each message the Zap sends is itself outbound and starts it again.
5

New Tag Added to Message

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a tag is added to a conversation.”

Runs as soon as a tag lands on a conversation. Tags become buttons: put one on, and something happens elsewhere.

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 agent tags a thread as a bug report, and the Zap attaches the matching ticket with Add Conversation Links.
Watch out
the Zap starts on every tag added, so if only one tag matters, plan a filter step, which needs a paid plan.
Actions

Front actions, grouped by what they do

Front gives you 23 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Add Comment

Action

In Zapier“Add a comment to a conversation”

Posts a comment on a conversation, the place where your teammates discuss the case. The comment body is plain text only.

When to use it
after a Zap assigns a thread, it writes a line saying who got it and which rule decided.
Watch out
combined with the New Comment trigger on the same thread, it loops.
2

Add Contact Handle

Action

In Zapier“Add a handle (email, phone, etc) to a Contact”

Adds a handle, meaning an email address, a phone number or another way to reach someone, to a contact you already have. You state the handle and its source.

When to use it
a customer gives a mobile number during a phone call, and it should join their existing record.
4

Add Conversation Tags

Action

In Zapier“Add tags to a Conversation”

Puts one or more tags on a conversation in a single step.

When to use it
every reply sent by a Zap gets an auto-answered tag, which keeps human and automatic replies apart in your stats.
Watch out
the field wants tag IDs, not the names you read in Front.
5

Assign or Unassign Conversation

Action

In Zapier“Assign or unassign a conversation to a teammate.”

Gives a conversation to a teammate, or removes the current assignee. One action covers both directions.

When to use it
VIP threads flagged by a Front rule go straight to the senior agent on duty.
Watch out
the conversation ID it expects starts with cnv_, so map it from a Front step, never type a name.
6

Create Account

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new Account.”

Adds a company record, an Account, to Front. The account name is required.

When to use it
a deal closes in your sales tool and support should see the customer company before the first ticket.
Watch out
run Find Account first, or you end up with two records for the same company.
7

Create Contact

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new contact.”

Records a new person in your Front contacts, ready to be found, updated or given extra handles by later steps.

When to use it
a new subscriber signs up for your service and you want support to recognise them from day one.
Watch out
Find Contact with its create option often does the same job without creating doubles.
8

Create Draft

Action

In Zapier“Create a new message draft”

Prepares a brand new message as a draft, in a chosen channel and on behalf of a chosen teammate, without sending anything. The body takes plain text or HTML.

When to use it
an account manager wants outreach messages pre-written and waiting, then reviews each one before it leaves.
Watch out
channel, author and body are all mandatory.
9

Create Draft Reply

Action

In Zapier“Create a new draft reply to an existing conversation.”

Writes a reply draft inside an existing conversation, ready for a teammate to edit and send. You pick the channel and the author, and you can ask Front to add the default signature, which is off unless you switch it on.

When to use it
new agents get a suggested answer to polish instead of a blank box.
11

Get Conversation Last Message

Action

In Zapier“Retrieve the most-recent message of a conversation.”

Fetches the most recent message of a conversation and passes it to the next steps. It writes nothing; it only reads.

When to use it
a Zap started by a tag needs the text of the latest customer email to quote it in a comment.
Watch out
it still counts as an action, so it uses a task and makes the Zap multi-step.
12

Import Message

Action

In Zapier“Imports a new message into Front.”

Pushes a message from outside into a Front inbox, as received or as sent, with its own date. You can archive it on arrival and decide whether your Front rules apply to it.

When to use it
messages from a contact form you run elsewhere should live next to your email.
Watch out
a message whose External ID already exists is not imported.
14

Remove Contact Handle

Action

In Zapier“Removes a handle (email, phone, etc) from a Contact”

Strips a handle from a contact, for example an old email address that bounces. You give the handle and its source.

When to use it
a customer changes provider and the former address should no longer receive anything.
Watch out
the Force option deletes the whole contact if that handle was their last one.
16

Remove Conversation Tags

Action

In Zapier“Remove Tags from a Conversation”

Takes tags off a conversation, the mirror of the add action. Like it, it works on tag IDs, so map them from a Front step rather than typing names.

When to use it
the waiting-for-customer tag disappears as soon as the customer writes back, so your queue view stays honest.
17

Send Message

Action

In Zapier“Sends a message creating a new conversation.”

Sends a message that opens a new conversation, through the channel you choose and to the recipients you list. The body accepts plain text or HTML, and you can archive the thread straight away.

When to use it
a customer success manager sends a check-in to a client once their account status changes.
18

Send Reply

Action

In Zapier“Replies to a conversation. This action is best used with a Front trigger. For example, auto-reply behavior could be setup by combining a "New Inbound Message" Front trigger with this action.”

Answers inside a conversation that already exists, and can archive it right after. It needs the conversation ID, which is easiest to take from a Front message trigger placed before it.

When to use it
auto-acknowledging inbound mail outside office hours.
Watch out
a Zap built on New Outbound Message that uses this action triggers itself.
19

Update Account

Action

In Zapier“Updates an existing Account.”

Edits a company record you already have in Front. You point to it by its Account ID, so it pairs well with Find Account placed just before.

When to use it
a client upgrades their contract and the account details agents see should reflect it the same day.
20

Update Contact

Action

In Zapier“Updates an existing contact.”

Edits an existing person in your contacts. One option removes the contact from every group at once, and when you tick it, it overrides whatever you put in the Groups field.

When to use it
a customer churns and should leave all your segment groups in one go.
21

Update Conversation

Action

In Zapier“Update the conversation status, assignee, inbox or tags.”

Changes several things on a conversation in one step: its status, its assignee, its inbox or its tags. Handy when one event should move a thread and relabel it at the same time.

When to use it
a refund is confirmed in your billing tool, and the matching thread moves to the finance inbox.
23

API Request (Beta)

Action

In Zapier“This is an advanced action which makes a raw HTTP request that includes this integration's authentication.”

An advanced step that calls Front directly with your existing connection, for anything the other actions do not cover. You pick the method and the address.

When to use it
someone on the team knows the Front API and needs one setting that no action exposes.
Watch out
it only reaches domains linked to Front, and Stop on error decides whether a failure halts the Zap.
Searches

Front searches

3 search steps look for data that already exists in Front, so a later step can use it.

A search step finds a record that already exists in Front and passes it to the steps after it. In the editor, searches sit at the bottom of the Action event list, under SEARCH. Any search makes the Zap multi-step, so it needs a paid plan. Three settings decide what happens when the result is not the clean single match you expected.

1

Find Account

SearchFind or create

In Zapier“Finds an existing Account”

Looks up a company record that is already in Front, so later steps can update it or attach things to it.

When to use it
before Update Account, to get the Account ID from a name you know.
Watch out
the editor also shows Find or Create Account. It is this same search with the create box ticked, not another operation.
2

Find Contact

SearchFind or create

In Zapier“Finds an existing contact.”

Finds a person through one of their handles: an email, a phone number, a Twitter, Facebook, Intercom or Smooch ID, or a custom handle. You give both the handle and its source.

When to use it
a signup in your app should match the right customer before Add Contact Handle runs.
Watch out
Find or Create Contact is this search with creation switched on.
3

Find Conversation

Search

In Zapier“Finds an existing conversation”

Locates a conversation that already exists, so a Zap started by another app can reply, tag or comment in the right thread.

When to use it
an order ships, and the thread where the customer asked about it gets a comment.
Watch out
how close the match must be is decided by Front, not by Zapier, so test it on a real case.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left as is, a search that finds nothing stops the Zap and skips the steps that relied on it. Switched on, the Zap carries on with nothing in hand.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    Ticking it turns the search into find-or-create: the previous setting disappears and the step asks for the fields needed to create the missing record.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Three ways out when several records match: keep the first one, which is the default, stop the Zap, or pass all of them on together.
When it breaks

When a Front Zap breaks

Front adds few limits of its own. Most trouble comes from how Zapier reads events and from IDs that do not match.

Zapier lists one help article for this app, How to get started with Front on Zapier. Below are the cases worth knowing before you publish. If a Zap already misbehaves, the Zapier troubleshooting page is the next stop.

  • Old conversations are ignored

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you publish it. Messages, tags and comments that existed before stay untouched; moving that backlog is a separate job.

  • A Zap that sets itself off

    New Outbound Message plus Send Reply, or New Comment plus Add Comment, on the same inbox: each step creates the event the trigger watches, and tasks burn fast.

  • Bulk imports held back

    Import a large batch with Import Message, and the triggers that see it may return a huge burst at once. Zapier's flood protection can hold such a batch back.

  • Duplicate External ID

    Import Message skips any message whose External ID already exists in Front. Build that ID from something unique on the source side, not from a date alone.

  • Names where IDs are expected

    Tag, Link, Account and Conversation fields want Front IDs. Map those IDs from an earlier Front step or a search instead of typing the readable names you see in Front.

  • API Request outside Front

    API Request (Beta) refuses any address that does not belong to Front. With Stop on error set to No, the Zap keeps going after a failed call.
Need help

Need help automating Front with Zapier?

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FAQ

Front Zapier integration: frequent questions

01Is the Front Zapier integration free?
Yes, as far as Zapier is concerned. Front is not a premium app, so it works on the free plan, which gives you 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The catch is the shape of the Zap: on the free plan you get one trigger and one action, nothing more. An auto-reply built from New Inbound Message and Send Reply fits. Add a tag step, a filter or a search, and you need a paid plan.
02How many tasks does a Front Zap use?
One per action that succeeds, and nothing else. The trigger is free, however many messages Front reports. A Zap with Send Reply then Add Conversation Tags uses two tasks per inbound message, so the 100 tasks of the free plan cover half as many messages. An action that fails is not counted. Read-only actions such as Get Conversation Last Message still count, because Zapier bills them as actions. Before publishing, estimate how many messages, tags or comments the trigger will see in a month, then multiply by the number of actions.
03Does Front trigger Zapier in real time?
Yes. All five Front triggers are instant: Front tells Zapier the moment the message, comment, tag or rule match happens, and the Zap starts right away. The plan interval grid, fifteen minutes on Free and less on paid plans, only concerns polling triggers, and Front has none. In the editor, a Zap started by an instant trigger carries a lightning bolt. That makes Front a good fit for a free plan, where the delay usually hurts most.
04What do you need to connect Front to Zapier?
A Front account, and access to anything you do not own yourself but want the Zap to touch, such as a teammate's inbox. The connection takes three moves: open Apps in Zapier and click + Add connection, pick Front and click Add connection, then sign in to Front in the new tab and grant access. After that, every Front step in every Zap reuses the same connection. If a rule is missing from Rule Triggered, select the team that owns it first.
05Why does a Front Zap reply to itself in a loop?
Because the action creates the very event the trigger watches. Send Reply and Send Message produce outbound messages, so a Zap that starts on New Outbound Message and sends one restarts on its own message. Add Comment does the same with New Comment. Each lap spends a task, and the free plan's 100 tasks go quickly. Start the Zap on New Inbound Message instead, which a reply from the Zap never sets off.
06What if the Front operation you want is not in the list?
Check the three searches first: Find Account, Find Contact and Find Conversation often bridge the gap, and their find-or-create versions can create the record when it is missing. If nothing fits, API Request (Beta) calls Front directly with your existing connection, as long as the address belongs to Front. That step needs someone comfortable reading the Front API. The other route is to keep the logic inside a Front rule and start the Zap with Rule Triggered.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Front?
It depends on your criteria rather than on a winner. On Zapier, Front comes with 5 instant triggers, 23 actions and 3 searches, and the free plan already covers a two-step Zap. To compare, line up the same three questions for each platform: which Front operations it exposes, what unit it bills and how your monthly volume of messages translates into that unit, and who on your team will build and maintain the automation. The answer can differ from one support team to the next.
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