Communication Actions

Communication Actions

Communication actions reach out to a person (Send Email, Send Text Message) or to another system (Trigger Webhook). They're the most common follow-up step in a workflow — once the data is in order, communication actions tell someone or something about it.

Send Email

Sends an email — either inline (you write the subject and body right in the step) or from a saved Email Template.

Inline mode

Field	What to put
To	One or more recipients. Pick an email field from the source record (e.g. Customer Email), the logged-in user's email, or a static address.
From Name / From Email	The sender label and address. Defaults to your app's configured sender.
Reply-to	Optional. Where replies should go.
Cc / Bcc	Optional additional recipients.
Subject	Plain text. Insert record fields with the variable picker (e.g. {{customer_name}}).
Body	Rich text. You can include images, links, and dynamic field values.
Attachments	Optionally attach a file from a Files field, a generated PDF (from a previous step), or a CSV.

Template mode

Pick one of the Email Templates you've already created in your app. The template's subject and body are reused, and any field placeholders inside it are filled in from the source record.

Templates are best when the same email is sent from multiple workflows or pages. Edit the template once and every workflow using it picks up the change automatically.

Example: When an Order is placed, send the customer a confirmation email using the "Order Confirmation" template, with the order's PDF receipt (generated in an earlier step) attached.

Limits and best practice

• Email volume counts against your plan's monthly email allowance.
• Set a clear From Name and Reply-to so customers don't think the message is spam.
• Test with a real recipient before activating high-volume workflows — Tadabase's Dry Run mode shows what would be sent without actually sending.

Send Text Message (SMS)

Sends an SMS to one or more recipients. The phone numbers can come from a Phone field on a record, the logged-in user, or a static value.

Field	What to put
Recipients	Phone field on the source record, the logged-in user's phone, or a static number. Multiple recipients allowed.
Message	Plain text. Field placeholders are supported (e.g. {{first_name}}).

SMS messages are billed per message and depend on your account's SMS configuration. Make sure phone numbers include the country code (e.g. +1 for US/Canada) so the SMS provider can route them correctly.

Example: When a Job's status changes to "On the Way," text the customer: "Your technician {{technician_name}} is on the way and should arrive in about 20 minutes."

Trigger Webhook

POSTs a JSON payload of the source record's data to one or more URLs you configure. This is the easiest way to push data out of Tadabase to another service (Zapier, Make, n8n, your own backend, etc.).

Configuration

Field	What to put
URL	The endpoint to POST to. Use HTTPS.
Record source	Which record's data to send: the source record, a previous action's record, or a connected record.

You can add multiple webhooks to a single step — Tadabase POSTs to each URL in turn and reports per-webhook success/error status.

Payload format

The payload is JSON. It includes the record's field values plus wrapper metadata like record_id and table_id. Record IDs are encoded — pass them back as-is when calling Tadabase APIs.

Example: When an Order is placed, fire a webhook to your fulfillment system at https://fulfillment.example.com/orders/new. The fulfillment system responds with a tracking number, which you don't need here — that comes back later via an Incoming Webhook.

Webhook vs. Trigger Pipe vs. Integration

• Trigger Webhook — fire-and-forget. POST a JSON payload, move on. Use when the other side doesn't need anything specific from you and the response is irrelevant.
• Trigger Pipe — calls a Pipe (a saved API call template you've configured). Best when you need a specific request shape, headers, query parameters, or want to capture the response.
• Integration action — calls a built-in connector (Slack, Stripe, HubSpot, etc.) with structured fields and OAuth handling.

For internal API work (pushing/pulling between Tadabase and a service you own), Trigger Webhook is usually the simplest path. For richer integrations with response handling, use a Pipe or a built-in connector.