Do I need to build a custom app?

Hey makers,

I have built Userdoc, a webapp to help manage user stories and project requirements - and want to leverage Make to allow my customers to integrate their Userdoc data into the project management tool of their choice (e.g. JIRA, Trello, Monday etc).

This will not be an automated process, but I want a specific “Sync” button on each user story in my webapp, and if they have integrated there Make account then the magic would happen (e.g. the story would be added or updated in JIRA etc).

I just did a deep dive on how to do this within Make, and have confused myself a little…

I assumed I needed to create and publish a “Userdoc app” in Make, and allow my users to connect that with that to their project management tool of choice.

However, to allow users to manually “Sync” a specific user story from my webapp - it looks like I might just need a webhook right? And don’t need to create/publish Make app at all.

Just a sanity check of what i’m thinking

  1. Each user would create their own Make account
  2. Setup a Webhook, then enter the specific URL into their account settings in my webapp)
  3. Setup the scenario to map the data into their Project management tool of choice

When the then click the “Sync” button in my webapp, I would send the relevant JSON data to the webhook they had entered in the account settings.

So with this in mind, I don’t really see how a new custom Make app would beneficial…
In fact, I don’t even see how it could be used with what I want.

Slightly confused, any feedback would be helpful :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Chris

1 Like

Hi @Userdoc, congrats on Userdoc! That look really nice!

All custom Make Apps can be built as either a Webhook or HTTP module or a connection of multiple of these modules together. So to answer your question: You don’t need a custom
Make app.

Would it be beneficial for your users? 99% yes.

Most people don’t know what a webhook is. The HTTP module is probably the most difficult one for many. It requires understanding about API calls, headers, query strings vs body content…

A custom app takes all of this difficulty away. Most of the times it’s a few click and your done.

From the perspective of a business owner, I might suggest the following:

  • start with giving your customers tutorials and the option to implement it using webhooks
  • once you see that this is a great feature which your (pot.) users are really looking for you can always develop a custom app.

To develop a custom app you can either do it yourself, talk to Make and ask if & when they could develop the app or talk to a Make Partner who offers the development of custom apps.

Hope helps!
Stay awesome! :tada:

1 Like

Also custom app development is described in The make docs.

2 Likes

Thanks @Richard_Johannes,

Say I need to manually trigger the Make integration from my webapp (when the user clicks the “Sync” button) - how would I achieve this via a “Make app”?

It will still need a webhook either way right - for my webapp to “trigger” the event?

So would a “Make app” work in this scenario?

Similarly, my users would still need to configure my custom “Make app” to map to their Project management software right? E.g. link my app to JIRA etc, then map all the required fields.

So I’m not quite sure what actual benefits would be gained via a published “Make app” in this scenario.

Hi @Userdoc,

For your users to easily create integrations with the third-party app of their choice using Make you have two options:

  1. You add a feature to create a webhook in Userdoc UI where the user adds the URL and event(s) of their choice.
  2. You have a webhook endpoint in your API. In that case, you can create a Userdoc app to create a webhook directly from Make (it is more user-friendly this way)

So yes technically you don’t need an app in Make, you just need the ability for your users to instruct Userdoc to send data to the URL of their choice.

The benefits of building an app are many though:

  • ease of use
  • brand recognition
  • SEO
    and more
1 Like