Skip to content

Connect Zapier

Topicary is listed in the public Zapier App Directory. Connect it with a project API key to start a Zap when a topic is published or changed, create draft topics from other apps, and look topics up by title.

Before you begin

This feature requires the Enterprise capability tier (the Business ). During the beta, every project is on the free Solo tier, so this feature is locked by default: go to Settings ▸ Billing and request Enterprise access to unlock it.

Only project members with the Admin can configure this feature. Authors and Reviewers see the section, but its controls are replaced by an Admins only notice.

The Zapier integration runs entirely on the REST API overview, so it inherits the same requirement: without a Business plan you cannot generate the API key the connection needs. Key generation fails with "API keys require the Business plan."

What you can automate

Type

Zapier step

What it does

Trigger

Topic Published

Starts a Zap when a topic's status becomes Published

Trigger

Topic Updated

Starts a Zap when a topic's content or metadata changes

Action

Create Topic

Creates a draft topic in your project

Search

Find Topic

Finds a topic by title, optionally filtered by status or type

Every trigger and search returns the same topic fields: Topic ID, Title, Topic Type, Status, Created At, and Updated At.

Connect your project to Zapier

  1. In Topicary, go to Settings in the sidebar and open Connections.

  2. In the API keys card, click Generate API key, name the key (for example, "Zapier"), then click Generate.

  3. Copy the key immediately. It starts with tk_ and is shown only once.

  4. In Zapier, add a Topicary step to a Zap and choose to sign in.

  5. Paste the key into API Key.

  6. Leave Topicary URL at https://www.topicary.com, unless you reach your project through a custom domain. In that case, enter that domain.

  7. Continue. Zapier calls the API with the key to confirm the connection.

An API key is scoped to a single project. To automate a second project, generate a second key and add a second Zapier connection.

Choose between the two triggers

  • Topic Published fires the moment a topic's status becomes Published, whether you publish from the editor, from a topic's status badge in the topic list, or by changing the status of several topics at once. Use it when the Zap should run only on release, for example, to announce new documentation in Slack.

  • Topic Updated fires on every content or metadata change, including edits to an already-published topic. Use it to mirror changes into another system.

A bulk status change fires Topic Published once per topic that moved, so publishing 10 topics together runs the Zap 10 times. It never fires Topic Updated, because a status change edits no content. Topics with an active workflow are excluded from the bulk change and fire nothing.

Both triggers are backed by Topicary webhook events (topic.published and topic.updated). See the Webhook event reference for the payload each event carries.

The webhook payload Topicary sends is lean: the event name, the topic ID, a timestamp, and for topic.updated the names of the fields that changed. It never carries the content itself. The Zapier step then reads the full topic over the REST API before your Zap runs, so your steps always see current field values. If the topic was deleted in between, the Zap still fires with the topic ID alone.

Create a topic from another app

The Create Topic action takes three input fields:

Field

Required

Notes

Title

Yes

The topic title

Topic Type

No

Any Topic types label, for example concept, task, or reference. Types are free text, so a value that no other topic uses creates a new type. The field's own hint says the type must already exist in the project; it does not

Body

No

Plain text. Each line becomes its own paragraph

Topics created through Zapier are always drafts. The API enforces this, so a Zap can never publish content directly. Open the draft in Topicary, finish it, and publish it there.

Find a topic by title

The Find Topic search takes Title contains (a case-insensitive substring), Status, and Topic Type. Leave Title contains empty to return the most recently updated topics under the other filters.

This is a title match, not a full-text search. Zapier scans up to the 200 most recently updated topics that match your status and type filters, and returns the first title that contains your text. A topic older than that window is not found, even when its title matches.

How Zaps manage webhooks

Turning a Zap on registers a webhook subscription on your project pointing at Zapier. Turning the Zap off or deleting it removes that subscription. You do not create or clean up anything by hand.

A Zap's subscription appears alongside your own in Settings > Connections > Webhooks, with a Zapier endpoint URL. Leave it to the Zap: deleting or disabling it there stops the Zap from firing, and Zapier does not re-create it until you turn the Zap off and on again. You can also list what is registered over the API with GET /api/v1/webhooks. See Configure webhooks.

Troubleshooting

Symptom

Cause and fix

Zapier rejects the key when you connect

The key was copied incompletely, or it was revoked. Generate a new key in Settings > Connections > API keys

You cannot generate a key at all

The API keys card is hidden below the Business plan. Request Enterprise access in Settings > Billing

A trigger never fires

Confirm the Zap is on. Turning it off deletes the underlying webhook subscription. Then check Settings > Connections > Webhooks: if the Zap's endpoint is missing or Disabled, turn the Zap off and on again to re-register it

Find Topic returns nothing for a title you can see

The topic sits outside the 200 most recently updated topics, or a Status or Topic Type filter excludes it


See also

Was this page helpful?