Add a Capture Record tool to a story

Understanding the Capture Record tool 

The Capture Record tool is how you store data from your workflows into structured, persistent records. Every time your story runs and reaches a Capture Record tool, it creates a new record with the data you've configured.

Key concepts:

• Record type: The schema that defines what fields exist and what data types they accept.

• Record type ID: The unique identifier for your record type, required for API queries and certain configurations.

• Field mappings: How you map data from your story to record fields.

• Upstream connection: The Capture Record tool must be connected to an action that provides the data.

You can also create records using the Tines API via an HTTP Request action, which gives you more programmatic control for advanced workflows. For details on API-based record creation, see the Tines API documentation.

Common field mapping patterns 

When configuring how your story data maps to record fields, you'll use these common patterns:

• Static values: Capture the same value every time: "High Priority"

• Direct references: Pull data directly from the incoming event: webhook.body.alert_name

• Formulas: Transform or combine data: APPEND(webhook.body.first_name, " ", webhook.body.last_name)

• Conditional values: Capture different values based on conditions: IF(webhook.body.score > 7, "High", "Low")

Tips for field mappings 

The most common issue when capturing records is data type mismatches. If your record field expects a number but receives text, the record will store empty data and log an error. The same applies to fixed values fields receiving values not in the predefined list, and timestamps in unexpected formats.

To prevent data quality issues:

• Use the DEFAULT formula to provide fallback values for fields that might be empty: DEFAULT(webhook.body.severity, "Unknown")

• Convert data types before capture when needed: NUMBER(webhook.body.score)

• Add validation logic upstream of your record capture using a Trigger action to verify required data exists before capturing.

• Add error handling after your Capture Record tool to check if the capture succeeded, and route failures to a notification or logging action.