Automation and integrations

An application programming interface: the route by which one piece of software talks to another.

A secret string that identifies your account to a service, the usual first step in connecting tools and the usual first thing leaked.

Handing a repeated task to software so it runs on a trigger instead of waiting for someone to remember it.

The other products an AI tool has been given access to, which sets both what it can do and where your data reaches.

Connectors let an AI assistant reach into your other tools: read a shared drive, check a calendar, update a spreadsheet.

Running a process with the final actions disabled so the intended effects can be reviewed before anything real happens.

What a workflow does with the cases it cannot complete, which is usually where the remaining human work concentrates.

Designing an automated process so a person approves or corrects specific steps rather than only seeing the result.

Designing a step so that running it twice has the same effect as running it once, which is what stops a retry from sending the same invoice again.

A product whose job is connecting other products, holding the credentials and the retry logic so each pair does not need bespoke work.

A setting that forces a model's reply into JSON, the plain-text format software uses to pass data around.

Mostly visual building with the option to drop into code for the awkward parts, the usual compromise once automations get real.

An open standard for building connectors, so one connector can work across different assistants instead of being rebuilt for each.

Tools built so the work is assembled visually rather than programmed, letting people who do not write code build and change automations.

An add-on that extends a tool you already use, rather than a separate product you open on its own.

The rules for what happens when a step fails, including how many attempts are made and how long the gap between them grows.

Older automation that copies a person's clicks and keystrokes across systems, widely deployed before AI and often what AI is now replacing.

A ready-made bundle of code a provider publishes so developers can use its API without writing the plumbing themselves.

A case that completes end to end with no human touch, and the number most automation business cases are ultimately measured on.

Making a model answer in a fixed shape with named fields, so another system can read the reply instead of a person having to.

The mechanism by which a model asks to run something outside itself, such as a search or a calculation, and then uses the result in its answer.

The event that starts an automation, such as a form submission or a new file, and the first thing to check when nothing ran.

A message one system sends to another the moment something happens, so the second system can react without repeatedly asking whether anything has changed.

A sequence of steps that runs in a set order, with each step's output feeding the next, whether people or software do the work.

Coordinating many automated steps across different systems, including the order they run in, what happens when one fails, and what gets retried.