Install Your First Connector¶

Audience: Everyone · Tags: marketplace, connectors, slack, lifecycle

A connector is how SnapLink talks to another app. Webhook, REST/HTTP, and Email are always available to use in a flow. Apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and HubSpot work differently: they're installed per workspace from the marketplace and walked through a short setup lifecycle before a flow can use them. This guide covers that path, using Slack as the example — the same steps apply to Teams and HubSpot.

Before you start¶

You'll need to be signed in with your bearer token ($TOKEN) and know your workspace. If you haven't signed up yet, see Quick Start first.

Step 1 — Browse the marketplace¶

Open Integrations (or the marketplace view) in the app, or call the API directly:

GET https://api.snaplink.cloudsolutionaccelerators.com/api/v1/marketplace/connectors?category=notifications
Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN

Note that marketplace endpoints have a small quirk worth knowing: on success they return { "data": ... } without an "ok" field (most other endpoints return { "ok": true, "data": ... }). Always check the HTTP status code to know whether a request succeeded — a 2xx status means success either way, and data always holds the payload.

{
  "data": [
    { "connectorKey": "slack", "name": "Slack", "category": "notifications", "actions": ["send_message"] },
    { "connectorKey": "teams", "name": "Microsoft Teams", "category": "notifications", "actions": ["send_message"] },
    { "connectorKey": "hubspot", "name": "HubSpot", "category": "crm", "actions": ["create_contact"] }
  ]
}

(Check your own environment's response for the exact connectorKey values — they're returned by this same call.)

Step 2 — Pick a connector and install it¶

Once you've found the one you want — say, Slack — install it into your workspace:

POST https://api.snaplink.cloudsolutionaccelerators.com/api/v1/marketplace/installed
Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN
Content-Type: application/json

{ "connectorKey": "slack" }

{
  "data": {
    "id": "inst_...",
    "connectorKey": "slack",
    "workspaceId": "ws_...",
    "status": "installed"
  }
}

At this point the connector belongs to your workspace, but it isn't usable in a flow yet — it has to move through the rest of its lifecycle first.

Step 3 — Walk it through the lifecycle¶

Every marketplace connector moves through the same states: installed → configured → certified → active. (A connector can also be moved to disabled or deprecated from more than one of these states, if you or your operator need to turn it off later.) You move it forward one step at a time:

POST https://api.snaplink.cloudsolutionaccelerators.com/api/v1/marketplace/installed/transition
Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN
Content-Type: application/json

{ "installedId": "inst_...", "action": "configure" }

Repeat with "action": "certify", then "action": "activate", checking the response's status field after each call until it reads "active". In the app, this usually appears as a short setup flow — connecting your Slack account through OAuth, confirming the connection, and confirming you're ready to use it — rather than three raw API calls, but it's the same underlying lifecycle either way.

Step 4 — The honest part: early access¶

Slack, Teams, and HubSpot are early access connectors. Their code makes real calls to each vendor's API — there's no mock or sandbox standing in — and they've been thoroughly validated in SnapLink's automated tests using fake/injected responses, so the connector logic itself is solid. But making a live call to your real Slack workspace, Teams tenant, or HubSpot account requires real OAuth credentials, connected by your operator for your workspace. Until that's set up, you can install and walk a connector through its lifecycle, but live sends will need those credentials in place.

Step 5 — Use it in a flow¶

Once a connector is active, its actions become available in Snap Studio. Open /snap, describe a flow that mentions it — "when my link gets a message, post it to Slack" — and in Stage 2 — Review & edit you'll see a THEN card for Slack → Send message, with plain-language fields for the channel and message text. From there, follow the rest of the walkthrough in Your First Flow.

Bonus: check how a connector is doing¶

If you install several connectors, you (or your workspace admin) can see how they're performing across the workspace:

GET https://api.snaplink.cloudsolutionaccelerators.com/api/v1/marketplace/analytics
Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN

This reports installs, run counts, success rate, and health per connector — useful for spotting a connector that's failing more than it should.

If something goes wrong¶

Installing or transitioning fails → check the error's code and message; a VALIDATION_ERROR usually means a missing or out-of-order lifecycle step.
A flow using this connector fails at runtime → see Connector failed and Authentication errors — an auth error code means a credential needs to be reconnected.
You can't see the connector at all → see Missing permissions; installing connectors may require an admin or owner role in your workspace.

Was this helpful? 👍 👎