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Build Your First Workflow

Welcome! This tutorial will guide you through creating your first Defense Catalyst workflow from start to finish. By the end, you’ll understand how to build, test, and publish automated workflows.

What You’ll Build

You’ll create a workflow that sends a Slack message when a webhook is received. This is a common pattern used for:

Time required: 10-15 minutes

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

Step 1: Create a New Flow

Let’s start by creating a new workflow.

Actions:

  1. Log into Defense Catalyst
  2. Click the “New Flow” button (usually in the top right or sidebar)
  3. Give your flow a descriptive name: “Webhook to Slack Notification”
  4. Click “Create” or press Enter

What You’ll See:

The flow builder interface will open, showing:

The flow builder is your workspace for creating automations. You’ll add steps to the canvas and configure them to build your workflow.

Step 2: Add a Webhook Trigger

Every flow starts with a trigger. We’ll use a webhook trigger, which creates a URL that external systems can call to start your flow.

Actions:

  1. Click “Add Trigger” or the ”+” button on the canvas
  2. Search for “Webhook” in the trigger list
  3. Select “Webhook” trigger
  4. The webhook configuration panel will open

Configure the Webhook:

  1. Trigger Name: Leave as “Webhook” or rename to something descriptive like “Receive Alert”
  2. Webhook URL: Defense Catalyst automatically generates a unique URL for you
  3. Click the “Copy” button next to the webhook URL to copy it to your clipboard
  4. Save this URL somewhere - you’ll need it for testing

Understanding Webhooks:

A webhook is like a mailbox for your workflow. When someone sends data to your webhook URL, your flow receives it and starts executing. The data sent to the webhook becomes available to use in your actions.

Step 3: Test the Webhook

Before adding actions, let’s test that the webhook works.

Actions:

  1. Open a new browser tab or use a tool like Postman, curl, or your terminal
  2. Send a test request to your webhook URL

Using curl (in terminal):

curl -X POST [YOUR_WEBHOOK_URL] \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"message": "Hello from Defense Catalyst!", "priority": "high"}'

Using PowerShell (Windows):

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "[YOUR_WEBHOOK_URL]" -Method POST -Body '{"message": "Hello from Defense Catalyst!", "priority": "high"}' -ContentType "application/json"
  1. Return to Defense Catalyst
  2. You should see the test data appear in the webhook configuration panel
  3. Expand the data to see the structure: message and priority fields

What Just Happened:

You sent data to your webhook, and Defense Catalyst captured it. This test data will be used to help you configure the next steps. You can see exactly what data is available to use in your actions.

Step 4: Add a Slack Action

Now let’s add an action that sends a message to Slack.

Actions:

  1. Click the ”+” button below your webhook trigger
  2. Search for “Slack” in the actions list
  3. Select “Send Message to Channel” action
  4. The Slack configuration panel will open

What You’ll See:

The action configuration has several fields:

Step 5: Connect to Slack

Before you can send messages, you need to connect Defense Catalyst to your Slack workspace.

Actions:

  1. In the Connection field, click ”+ New Connection”
  2. A popup will appear asking you to authorize Defense Catalyst
  3. Click “Connect to Slack” or “Authorize”
  4. You’ll be redirected to Slack’s authorization page
  5. Select your Slack workspace
  6. Review the permissions (Defense Catalyst needs permission to send messages)
  7. Click “Allow” or “Authorize”
  8. You’ll be redirected back to Defense Catalyst
  9. Your connection is now saved and will appear in the dropdown

Understanding Connections:

Connections store your authentication credentials securely. Once you create a Slack connection, you can reuse it in any flow without re-authorizing. Defense Catalyst encrypts and protects your credentials.

Step 6: Configure the Slack Message

Now let’s configure what message to send and where to send it.

Actions:

  1. Connection: Select the Slack connection you just created
  2. Channel: Click the dropdown and select a channel (e.g., #general, #alerts, or a test channel)
  3. Message: This is where we’ll use data from the webhook

Map Data from the Webhook:

Instead of typing a static message, we’ll use the data sent to the webhook. This makes your workflow dynamic.

  1. Click in the Message field
  2. You’ll see a data picker icon or a ”{ }” button
  3. Click it to open the data picker
  4. You’ll see the webhook step with the test data you sent
  5. Navigate to: Webhook → body → message
  6. Click to insert it

Your message field should now show something like: ``

Add Context to the Message:

Let’s make the message more informative:

🚨 New Alert Received

Message: 
Priority: 

Received at:

This creates a formatted message using data from the webhook. The `` syntax tells Defense Catalyst to insert dynamic data.

Step 7: Test Your Flow

Before publishing, let’s test the complete workflow.

Actions:

  1. Click the “Test” button in the toolbar
  2. Defense Catalyst will execute your flow using the test data from the webhook
  3. Watch as each step executes:
    • Webhook trigger (using test data)
    • Slack action (sending message)
  4. Check your Slack channel - you should see the message appear!

What to Look For:

If Something Goes Wrong:

Step 8: Test with a Real Webhook Call

Now let’s test the flow end-to-end by sending a new webhook request.

Actions:

  1. Send another request to your webhook URL with different data:
curl -X POST [YOUR_WEBHOOK_URL] \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"message": "System backup completed successfully", "priority": "low"}'
  1. Return to Defense Catalyst
  2. Click “Runs” or “History” to see your flow executions
  3. You should see a new run that was triggered by your webhook call
  4. Check Slack - you should see the new message with the updated data

What Just Happened:

Your flow is now live! When you send data to the webhook URL, Defense Catalyst automatically:

  1. Receives the webhook request
  2. Extracts the data
  3. Sends a formatted message to Slack
  4. Logs the execution

Step 9: Publish Your Flow

Right now, your flow is in draft mode. Let’s publish it to make it officially active.

Actions:

  1. Click the “Publish” button in the toolbar
  2. Review the confirmation dialog
  3. Click “Publish” to confirm

Understanding Draft vs Published:

You can always unpublish a flow to make changes, then republish when ready.

Step 10: Monitor Your Flow

Now that your flow is published, you should monitor it to ensure it’s working correctly.

Actions:

  1. Click on “Runs” or “History” in the navigation
  2. You’ll see a list of all executions of your flow
  3. Click on any run to see details:
    • What data was received
    • What actions were taken
    • Whether it succeeded or failed
    • How long it took

Best Practices:

What You Learned

Congratulations! You’ve successfully created, tested, and published your first Defense Catalyst workflow. Here’s what you learned:

Core Skills:

✅ Creating flows - How to start a new workflow and name it
✅ Adding triggers - How to add a webhook trigger and get its URL
✅ Adding actions - How to add a Slack action to send messages
✅ Connecting apps - How to authenticate with external services using OAuth
✅ Mapping data - How to use data from one step in another step
✅ Testing flows - How to test workflows before publishing
✅ Publishing flows - How to make workflows live and active
✅ Monitoring runs - How to view execution history and debug issues

Key Concepts:

Next Steps

Now that you’ve built your first workflow, here are some ideas for what to do next:

Enhance This Flow

Try adding more functionality to your webhook-to-Slack flow:

Add Conditional Logic:

Add More Actions:

Transform the Data:

Try Different Triggers

Explore other ways to start workflows:

Schedule Trigger:

App Event Trigger:

Polling Trigger:

Explore More Integrations

Defense Catalyst supports 280+ integrations. Try connecting:

Data & Databases:

AI & ML:

Development Tools:

→ Browse All Integrations

Learn Advanced Concepts

Deepen your knowledge with these topics:

Core Concepts →

Runs, Logs & Debugging →

Troubleshooting Hub →

Tips for Building Great Workflows

Start Simple, Then Iterate

Begin with a basic workflow that solves one problem. Once it’s working, add more features and complexity. It’s easier to debug a simple flow than a complex one.

Use Descriptive Names

Name your flows and steps clearly:

Test with Real Data

Don’t just test with perfect data. Try edge cases:

Handle Errors Gracefully

Think about what happens when things go wrong:

Add error handling and fallback logic to make your flows resilient.

Document Your Flows

Add descriptions to your flows explaining:

Monitor and Maintain

Workflows aren’t “set and forget”:

Get Help

Need Assistance?

Troubleshooting Hub →
Find solutions to common problems

FAQ →
Quick answers to frequently asked questions

Contact Support →
Email help@defensecatalyst.com for personalized help

Share Your Success

Built something cool? We’d love to hear about it! Share your workflows and automation wins with the Defense Catalyst community.

Ready to build more? → Explore Integrations

Want to go deeper? → Core Concepts