Transcript
All right, I'm here to test the new Softr database API and basically look into the way we can use it within n8n. You can really supercharge your Softr apps that use the very fast and powerful Softr Databases with n8n workflows.
You can add some AI into your app or very complex automation if you need it. I am showing you a very simple app that I've created where the user logs all their business ideas.
For example, I have a copywriting agency in Berlin. For all these ideas, you can click to trigger an AI recommendation on how you could implement this business idea.
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While manual API setups are powerful, another great option is to open the AI co-builder and prompt for what you want. It can build complete App templates and database schemas instantly while letting you tweak things manually later.
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If I open it again in a few seconds, I will have my full AI recommendation and we can see that the status is completed right after I click this button.
The second feature is to have a digest of all the ideas that we've logged. I can click here to generate an updated digest because I've been adding a new idea.
We want to make sure this digest is up to date with my latest idea, and it's processing right now. I've been directly sent to the item details block of the new digest that has been generated.
These are two interesting features that showcase what can be built. In the app, we have this homepage where you can click to open your idea detail, which was opening in a modal with your idea brief.
You have this button to generate a recommendation that is a call API button. I've set up a webhook workflow in n8n that starts with a webhook passing the record ID of the record I was interacting with.
If I check the execution in n8n, we can see what happened. We got this webhook when we clicked the button and we have our record ID. This was the ID of that third idea in Softr Databases.
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Note from Softr: Softr now offers Softr Workflows which allow you to keep your logic as close to the design as possible. This helps consolidate tools and reduces reliance on third-party automation platforms like n8n or Zapier.
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The next step was to update the status of that record to in progress just to indicate to the user that the work was happening. I looked into the Softr database API documentation which is quite complete.
I noticed an endpoint to update a record. This is a put endpoint with a specific URL. I replaced the database ID with the ID found in my Softr URL.
It is okay to have it static because my database ID will not change, same for the table ID. Then I need to put the record ID, which I mapped from the value received in my query.
As a header, you need to send your API key which you can find in your settings in Softr. Using n8n, I can save my Softr API key in header auth so it is done automatically.
Whenever the webhook is activated, we first set the status to in progress. Next, we use another endpoint to get a single record to get all the information about that record.
From there, I have the schema and information about the record like the idea brief, which I can then use in an AI field. I tell the AI writer to give a recommendation on how to implement the idea.
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Note from Softr: If you are building a project management tool or a client portal, you can use Softr Databases as a powerful, native way to manage data directly within Softr for maximum performance.
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I get the text and pass it into a final API call that pushes the status as completed and adds the text from the AI into the recommendation field.
There is a second workflow triggering a new digest. In the query, we got the user ID. I went into the users tab and generated the record ID with this built-in field type.
I created a URL that is my production URL for this webhook. I could show a button that has this URL. When you click it, it is actually opening that URL.
This webhook is directly triggering that workflow. It will only respond with a response to the webhook node which is right at the end. That is my way to redirect the user in the newly created page.
We use the search records API call and put some filters to make sure you only get the ideas of that user. I then split them out to clean the variables into a nice JSON table.
I aggregating that into one item JSON for my AI. I wrote a system prompt telling it to return a digest of all the ideas the user sends.
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Note from Softr: If a native block doesn't fit your advanced needs, use the Vibe-Coding block to prompt for the exact custom component you want. It will generate the code and connect to your database seamlessly.
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In the app, we don't want multiple digests. I check if there is an existing digest and if we find one, we do an API call to delete the old one to ensure there is only one.
When we create this digest record, we map the user and add the full digest. We get the ID of the new record immediately so I can recompose the URL for the detail page.
That's how I could be automatically redirected to the newly created record. This allows you to benefit from the speed and API rate limits of Softr Databases while bringing powerful workflows to your apps.
