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Pinateca Zapier integrationAutomate Pinateca with Zapier.

The Pinateca Zapier integration gives you 5 triggers, 4 actions and 2 searches. Every trigger is instant, so a card created, moved, assigned, updated or commented in Pinateca can start a Zap straight away, and other apps can create boards, add cards and move them across lists.

Beta app Zapier still marks this integration as beta.

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Overview

What the Pinateca Zapier integration covers

Pinateca is a task manager from Japan: one workspace, and nine ways to look at the same work, from a kanban board to a Gantt chart or a calendar. The Zapier integration lets what happens on your cards drive other tools, and lets other tools create boards, cards and moves in Pinateca without anyone copying anything by hand.

Three results show the range. A handoff between teams without a meeting: when a card reaches a given column, Card Moved starts a Zap and Create Card opens the follow-up on another team's board. An intake board fed from outside: a form or a support tool sends requests, Find Board locates the right board, and Create Card drops each request into the inbox column. A status that follows the conversation: a New Comment on a card can mark it done through Update Card, or send it to another list with Move Card.

All five Pinateca triggers are instant: Pinateca reports the event to Zapier itself, so the check interval of your plan never applies to them. On the free plan, that is the best news on this page. A Zap built on any of them shows a lightning bolt in the editor.

Now the gaps. There is no action to delete a card or a board, and no trigger for a new board. Zapier also labels the integration as a beta. If you are still choosing a platform, see Make vs Zapier and n8n vs Zapier.

Vocabulary

Zapier terms, explained once

Eight words that come back on every Zapier page, each in one line.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one starting event, then one or more steps that run every time that event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is on, Zapier waits for it. Pinateca has five, all about cards.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or moves something. In Pinateca, it creates, updates or moves.
Task
The unit Zapier bills: one action your Zap completes successfully. Your plan's allowance is a count of those.
Instant trigger
A trigger the app reports itself the moment the event happens, so nothing waits for the next check. Every Pinateca trigger is one.
Polling trigger
A trigger Zapier checks on a timer, asking for new items at a fixed interval set by your plan. Pinateca has none of these.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when what arrived meets a condition you set, and stops it the rest of the time.
Search step
A step that looks up something that already exists, such as a board or a card, so the next steps can use what it found.
Cost

What a Pinateca Zap really costs

Pinateca is not reserved for paid plans: it runs on the free plan. Tasks are only spent on actions that succeed.

  • Free plan100 tasks per month, unlimited Zaps
  • Steps on the free plan2 (one trigger, one action)
  • Pinateca triggers5, all instant
  • Filter or searchMakes the Zap multi-step, paid plan

The trigger never costs a task. Each Create Board, Create Card, Move Card or Update Card that works counts as one task, and a failed action is not counted. The free plan stops at two steps, one trigger and one action: add a filter or a search step and the Zap becomes multi-step, which needs a paid plan. The interval grid below is for polling triggers; Pinateca's five triggers are instant, so it does not apply to them.

Connect

Connect Pinateca to Zapier

  1. 01

    Open Apps

    Go to the Apps page of your Zapier account and click + Add connection. You need a Pinateca account, plus access to any board you don't own that the Zap will read or change.

  2. 02

    Choose Pinateca

    In the dialog, search for Pinateca, select it and click Add connection. A new tab opens on the Pinateca side, which is where you sign in with your usual account.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Log in to Pinateca in that tab and give Zapier access to the account. The connection is stored once, then reused by every trigger, action and search that touches Pinateca.

First Zap

Your first Zap: hand a card to the QA team

GoalWhen a card lands in the review column, a matching card appears on the QA board, without anyone retyping it.

  1. 01

    Build: start on Card Moved

    Create a Zap, pick Pinateca as the app and Card Moved as the event, then select your Pinateca connection. Because the trigger is instant, there is no interval to set.

  2. 02

    Test with a real card

    Move a card in Pinateca, then run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent items, so you can pick a real move and map from it.

  3. 03

    Filter on the column

    Click the plus icon, choose Filter, and let the Zap through only when the card arrived in your review column. From here on, the Zap is multi-step and needs a paid plan.

  4. 04

    Find the QA board

    Add Find Board and type the name of the QA board. The search finds the board by its name and hands it to the next step, ready to be mapped into the Board field.

  5. 05

    Create the card and publish

    Add Create Card, map the board found, pick the inbox List and reuse the title of the moved card. Run Configure & test, then click Publish.

Triggers

The 5 Pinateca triggers

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

1

Card Assigned

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when someone is assigned to a card.”

Reacts when someone is put in charge of a card, which makes it the natural hook for anything that should follow a new owner: a message, a calendar entry, a line in a workload sheet.

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 designer assigned to a card should get a direct message with the card title before checking the board.
Watch out
a card can change hands several times, and every new assignment can start the Zap again.
2

Card Moved

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a card is moved to another list.”

Fires when a card changes list, which on a kanban board means it changed stage. It is the trigger for handoffs and status reports, since the column usually says where the work stands.

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 card reaching the review column should open a task for the QA team or notify a client.
Watch out
every move counts, so add a filter if only one destination column matters to you.
3

Card Updated

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a card is updated.”

Starts a Zap whenever a card is edited, whether the change is a new title, a revised description, shifted dates or the done box being ticked. It is broad by design and catches small edits too.

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 timeline in another tool should stay in step when deadlines change on the card.
Watch out
pairing it with Update Card in the same Zap creates a loop, since the action edits the card and fires the trigger again.
4

New Card

Instant trigger

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

Picks up each card the moment it is created on a board, before anyone has moved or assigned it. That makes it the entry point for logging, routing or announcing fresh work.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
every new request on an intake board should be copied into a tracking sheet or posted to the team channel.
Watch out
a Zap that starts here and runs Create Card on the same board sets itself off again with the card it just made.
5

New Comment

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a comment is added to a card.”

Hears every comment added to a card, so the discussion around a task can travel to people who never open Pinateca, such as a client or a manager reading email.

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 comment saying the work is finished should mark the card done, or a client question should reach the account manager.
Watch out
busy cards produce many comments, and each one that gets through the filter spends a task on the actions that follow.
Actions

The 4 Pinateca actions

Pinateca gives you 4 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create Board

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new board.”

Opens a brand-new board in Pinateca from a single name, which saves setting up the same structure by hand for each new client or project.

When to use it
a deal marked as won in your CRM should give the delivery team its own board.
Watch out
Name is the only required field, so two runs with the same name give you two boards; Find Board with its create option avoids that.
2

Create Card

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new card on a board.”

Adds a card to a chosen board and column, with the title you map from an earlier step. It is the most common way to turn outside requests into Pinateca work.

When to use it
a support ticket, a form entry or an email should become a card in the inbox column.
Watch out
Board, List and Title are all required, and the List is the column, not the board view.
3

Move Card

Action

In Zapier“Moves a card to another list.”

Sends an existing card to another list, so a status change somewhere else shows up as a column change on your board.

When to use it
a paid invoice in your billing tool should push the matching card to the delivered column.
Watch out
the Card has to be identified, either picked from the list, found with the Find Card search step, or mapped from a Card ID that a previous trigger provided.
4

Update Card

Action

In Zapier“Updates the title, description, dates or done state of a card.”

Edits a card in place: its title, its description, its dates or whether it is done. Use it when the card should stay where it is but its content needs to follow events.

When to use it
a comment or a message elsewhere confirms the job is finished and the card should be ticked done.
Watch out
inside a Zap that starts on Card Updated, this action fires the trigger again and loops.
Searches

The 2 Pinateca searches

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

A search step finds a board or a card that already exists and passes it to the next steps. In the editor, the searches sit at the bottom of the Action event list, under SEARCH. Three settings decide what happens when the result is not the expected one.

1

Find Board

SearchFind or create

In Zapier“Finds a board by name.”

Looks up a board by its name and hands it to the following steps, so Create Card or Move Card always target the right place without a hard-coded pick.

When to use it
requests arrive tagged with a client name and each client has a board named after them.
Watch out
the editor also lists Find or Create Board; it is this same search with the create box ticked, and it opens the board when none matches the name.
2

Find Card

SearchFind or create

In Zapier“Finds a card by title inside a board.”

Finds a card by its title inside a given board, which is how a Zap started outside Pinateca can reach the right card before moving or updating it.

When to use it
an email or an invoice carries the job title, and the matching card should be moved or ticked done.
Watch out
Board and Title are required. Find or Create Card, also in the list, is the same search with the create box ticked, adding the card when the title isn't found.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left on its default, a search that finds nothing stops the Zap there and the dependent steps are skipped. Switched on, the Zap carries on without a result.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    Ticking this box turns the search into a find-or-create: the setting above disappears and the step asks for what it needs to create the missing board or card.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Three ways out when several items match: keep the first one (the default), stop the Zap, or pass all of them on at once.
When it breaks

When a Pinateca Zap breaks

Zapier attaches no help article to Pinateca, so these cases come from how Zapier itself behaves.

With five card triggers and actions that write to the same cards, the main risk is a Zap that sets itself off. For a broader method, see Zapier troubleshooting.

  • Card Updated plus Update Card

    A Zap that writes where its own trigger watches sets itself off again and again. Card Updated with Update Card, or New Card with Create Card on one board, burn tasks fast.

  • No backlog

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after it is switched on. Cards created or moved before that never start it; moving the existing work is a separate job.

  • Bulk changes held back

    A sudden flood of events, after a bulk import or a board migration, can be held back by Zapier's flood protection instead of running the Zap on each card.

  • A search that finds nothing

    With the default setting, Find Board or Find Card stops the Zap when nothing matches. A renamed board or a retitled card is enough to cause it.
Need help

Need help automating Pinateca with Zapier?

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FAQ

Pinateca and Zapier: frequent questions

01Is the Pinateca Zapier integration free?
Yes, for two-step Zaps. Pinateca is not one of the apps Zapier reserves for paid plans, so a Zap made of one Pinateca trigger and one action runs on the free plan, which gives you 100 tasks per month and unlimited Zaps. The limit is the shape: a filter, a search step such as Find Board, or a second action makes the Zap multi-step, and that needs a paid plan. Note that Zapier currently labels this integration as a beta.
02How many tasks does a Pinateca Zap use?
One task per action that succeeds, and nothing for the trigger. A Zap that runs Create Card each time a card moves spends one task per move that passes. Two actions in the same Zap, say Move Card then Update Card, spend two per run. An action that fails is not counted. The thing to watch is a loop: a Zap that writes to the cards its trigger watches can run again and again and drain the allowance quickly.
03Do Pinateca triggers work in real time?
Yes. All five Pinateca triggers are instant: Pinateca tells Zapier itself when a card is created, moved, assigned, updated or commented, and the Zap starts right away. The plan intervals, 15 minutes on Free, 2 on Professional and one on Team and Enterprise, only apply to polling triggers, so they don't slow a Pinateca Zap down, even on the free plan. You can spot it in the editor: a Zap built on an instant trigger shows a lightning bolt.
04What does it take to connect a Pinateca account?
A Pinateca account, plus access to any board you don't own that the Zap will read or change. In Zapier, open the Apps page, click + Add connection, search for Pinateca and pick it, then click Add connection. Sign in to Pinateca in the tab that opens and grant Zapier access. The same connection then serves every Pinateca trigger, action and search in your Zaps, so it only has to be done once.
05Why does a Pinateca Zap keep running by itself?
Because it writes to what its trigger watches. A Zap that starts on Card Updated and runs Update Card edits the card, which counts as a new update and starts the Zap again. The same happens with New Card followed by Create Card on the same board. Each round spends a task. The fix is a filter after the trigger with a condition the Zap's own changes don't meet, or a different trigger such as Card Moved.
06What if the Pinateca operation you want doesn't exist?
Then this integration doesn't offer it on Zapier. The editor shows five triggers (Card Assigned, Card Moved, Card Updated, New Card, New Comment), four actions (Create Board, Create Card, Move Card, Update Card) and two searches (Find Board, Find Card). There is nothing to delete a card or a board, and no trigger for a new board. Those jobs stay in Pinateca itself, or go to another tool that offers the step.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Pinateca?
Compare on criteria, not on brand. On Zapier, Pinateca brings five instant triggers, which removes the plan interval from the equation, plus four actions and two searches. The questions to ask are how many steps your process needs, since a filter or a search already means a paid plan; where your other tools already live; and how comfortable you are building on an integration Zapier marks as beta. Score each platform you consider against those same three points.
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