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MoDeck Zapier integrationAutomate MoDeck with Zapier.

MoDeck Zapier integration: 1 trigger, 1 action and 0 searches. Zapier can start a render of one of your MoDeck templates with data from another app, then pick up the finished video once the render is complete. Here is what each run costs and what breaks.

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Overview

What the MoDeck Zapier integration does for you

The MoDeck Zapier integration links your MoDeck account to the other apps you use, through Zapier. It can fill a MoDeck template with data that arrives elsewhere and start the render, and it can notice when a render of a given template is finished, so the next app gets the link to the video file without anyone copying it over.

A video started by data, not by hand. With Render a Video, a new row, form answer or record in another app becomes a named video built from your template. A finished video that goes somewhere. Render Complete watches one template and hands on the link to the rendered file, ready for a message or a storage folder. Two templates in a row. Used together, they let a finished render of one template start a render of another.

What Zapier does not do here: the integration has no search, so a Zap cannot look up an older render or a template by name, and no step edits, deletes or lists your templates. Only renders that finish after the Zap is on are seen. Each of these fits the free plan as a two-step Zap; a filter or a second action in the same Zap needs a paid plan, and each successful render counts as a task. To weigh the tool itself, see our Zapier review, and to set it against another tool, open our Make vs Zapier comparison.

Vocabulary

Zapier words, in plain English

Eight terms come back all through this page. Here is what each one means before you open the editor.

Zap
The automation you build in Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each 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, here a finished MoDeck render.
Action
What the Zap does once it has started: the step that writes, sends or moves something for you, like starting a render.
Task
The unit Zapier bills. One task is one action your Zap completes successfully, and the count on your plan is a count of those.
Polling vs instant
Polling: Zapier checks the app on a timer and keeps only what is new. Instant: the app reports the event itself. MoDeck's trigger polls.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap go on only when what arrived meets a condition you set, and stops it there otherwise.
Connection
Your MoDeck account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step of every Zap that uses MoDeck.
Multi-step Zap
Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action, a filter or a search makes one, and it then needs a paid plan.
Cost

What a MoDeck Zap really costs

Zapier bills tasks, and a task is an action that worked. The Render Complete trigger never costs one, however often Zapier checks for new renders.

  • Trigger0 tasks
  • Successful actionCounted as a task
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • MoDeck accessFree plan and up

Each Render a Video that goes through counts against your plan, while a run that fails is not counted. A Zap with three actions eats three times what a one-action Zap does, and a few actions take more than one task. MoDeck works on the free plan: 100 tasks a month, as many Zaps as you like, two steps each. Add a filter or a second action and the Zap turns multi-step, which needs a paid plan. The grid below is how often Zapier checks Render Complete on each plan.

Connect

Connect MoDeck to Zapier in three steps

  1. 01

    Open Apps and add a connection

    In your Zapier account, open the Apps page and click + Add connection. Type MoDeck in the search box of the dialog that opens and pick it from the results.

  2. 02

    Sign in to MoDeck

    Click Add connection. A new tab opens on MoDeck: sign in with the account that holds your templates, the one whose renders you want Zapier to start or to watch.

  3. 03

    Grant Zapier access

    Approve the access Zapier asks for. You need an account on MoDeck, plus read or write access on anything you do not own yourself and want the Zap to touch. Every MoDeck step then reuses this connection.

First Zap

Your first MoDeck Zap, step by step

GoalPost the link of each finished render of one template to your team chat, but only when it meets a condition you set.

  1. 01

    Build the trigger

    Create a Zap, pick MoDeck as the app that starts it and Render Complete as the event. Choose your MoDeck connection, then the template whose renders you want to follow.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

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

  3. 03

    Add the filter

    Click the plus icon, add Filter and fill its three boxes: the field to look at, the rule, the value to compare with. A filter makes the Zap multi-step, so it needs a paid plan.

  4. 04

    Add the message

    Add your team chat app and its send-message action, then map the link to the rendered video file from the trigger into the message. Test this step and read what came back.

  5. 05

    Publish

    Click Publish to switch the Zap on. From then on, renders of that template that finish after this moment are picked up; earlier ones are not.

Triggers

The MoDeck trigger

1 event starts a Zap when something happens in MoDeck. Zapier checks for them at the interval your plan allows.

1

Render Complete

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a render from a specific template has completed and returns a link to the rendered video file.”

Follows one MoDeck template and starts your Zap when a render made from it is done, handing the next steps a link to the finished video file.

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
when a finished video has to reach people or another app without someone opening MoDeck to check on it.
Watch out
the Template field is required and takes one template, so renders of your other templates never reach this Zap.
Actions

The MoDeck action

MoDeck gives you 1 action. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Render a Video

Action

In Zapier“Populate a template with the supplied data and start a render.”

Fills a MoDeck template with the data your Zap carries and starts a render, giving the new video the name you set.

When to use it
when a new record or form answer elsewhere should turn into a video built from the same template every time.
Watch out
Video name and MoDeck template are both required, so map into the name a value that every run carries.
When it breaks

When a MoDeck Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to MoDeck, so the cases below are the general limits that apply to any Zap built on it.

Four limits are worth knowing before you publish. If a Zap stops behaving, see our Zapier troubleshooting guide.

  • No catch-up on old renders

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Renders already finished are never picked up; moving that backlog is a separate job.

  • A Zap that sets itself off

    A Zap that writes into the very place its own trigger watches can set itself off again and again, and burn through your tasks fast.

  • A sudden flood held back

    If a trigger suddenly returns a huge batch, after a bulk import or a migration, Zapier's flood protection can hold it back.

  • The same render, once

    Zapier keeps track of what it has already seen on a polling trigger, so the same render does not start the Zap twice.
Need help

Need help automating MoDeck with Zapier?

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FAQ

MoDeck and Zapier: the questions people ask

01Is the MoDeck Zapier integration free?
Yes. MoDeck is not reserved for paid plans, so it works on Zapier's free plan. That plan gives you 100 tasks a month and an unlimited number of Zaps, but each Zap stops at two steps: one trigger and one action. A Zap that goes from Render Complete to a message in another app fits. Once you add a filter, a second action or a search, the Zap becomes multi-step and needs a paid plan. The trigger never costs a task and only actions that succeed are counted, so a quiet month costs nothing.
02How many tasks does a MoDeck Zap use?
One per successful action, and none for the trigger. Zapier counts a task each time an action of your Zap works, so a Render a Video step that goes through is counted. If the Zap has three actions, each one that succeeds is counted on its own, and the Zap eats three times what a one-action Zap does. An action that fails is not counted. Checking for finished renders costs nothing either, however often Zapier looks. A few actions take more than one task when they complete, so keep an eye on the count of your plan, which is 100 tasks a month on the free one.
03Does MoDeck start a Zap in real time?
No. Render Complete is a polling trigger: Zapier asks MoDeck for finished renders at a fixed interval and keeps only what it has not seen yet. That interval depends on your plan: every 15 minutes on Free, every 2 minutes on Professional, every minute on Team and Enterprise. On the paid plans you can change how often it checks, and also run a check by hand from the editor. The trigger type comes from MoDeck itself and cannot be switched from the editor, so a finished video can wait for the next check before the Zap runs.
04What does it take to connect MoDeck to Zapier?
An account on MoDeck, plus read or write access on anything you do not own yourself and want the Zap to touch. In Zapier, open Apps, click + Add connection, search MoDeck in the dialog, then click Add connection and sign in on the tab that opens. Grant Zapier access and the connection is saved for every later MoDeck step. Before you build, make sure that account already holds the template you plan to use, because Render Complete and Render a Video both require you to pick one.
05Why does a MoDeck Zap ignore renders from other templates?
Because Render Complete watches one template only. Its Template field is required and is described as the template to watch for new renders, so a render finished from any other template never reaches that Zap. The field takes a single template, picked when you set up the trigger. When you test the trigger, Zapier brings back the three most recent items of the connected account, which shows you what that template returns before you map the next step. Renders that finished before the Zap was switched on are never picked up.
06What if the MoDeck operation you want is not there?
Then Zapier cannot do it with MoDeck today. The integration offers one trigger, Render Complete, one action, Render a Video, and no search at all. The MoDeck page on Zapier shows the current list, so check it before you plan around a missing step. If what you want is to look up an older render, for example, no step of this integration does it. You can still build around what exists: keep the data in another app, and use MoDeck only to start renders and to catch the finished ones.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for MoDeck?
It comes down to criteria, not to a winner. Zapier offers MoDeck with 1 trigger and 1 action, usable on the free plan for two-step Zaps. Because Render Complete polls, the check interval of your plan decides how soon a finished video moves on, so weigh that against what you pay. If a flow needs a filter or several actions, count the multi-step requirement and the tasks each run eats. Make and n8n are worth comparing on whether they offer MoDeck at all, how they count runs, and how much setup you are ready to handle yourself.
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