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API Request Node

The API Request node lets a Voice Workflow call your own backend mid-call — check a slot, look up a customer, create a ticket — and feed the result back into the flow as a variable. It runs instantly (no caller turn), then passes through to the next node, so the caller hears no dead air. Under the hood it reuses the unified API & Webhook tool (api_connect) — the same configuration as the agent’s API & Webhook tool. Anything you can set up there, you can set up here.

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Three modes

The API Request node exposes the same three modes as the agent tool. Pick the one that matches what you’re doing.

API Endpoints

Define one or more endpoints (or import an OpenAPI spec) with typed parameters. Use this to read or write data mid-call — the most common mode for workflows that branch on live results.

Webhook

Fire a single fire-and-forget webhook URL to kick off downstream automation (notify a CRM, trigger a Zap). No response mapping needed.

Free-form Request

Hand-build a one-off request when you don’t want to define a reusable endpoint.

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Configure it

Select the node on the canvas to open the Inspector, then click Configure API to open the API Connect modal — the same modal the agent’s API & Webhook tool uses.
1

Set the Base URL

A public HTTPS URL only. localhost and private/internal IPs are blocked, so the endpoint must be reachable from the internet.
2

Choose Auth

Pick None, API Key Header, Bearer, or Basic, and fill in the credentials. Auth is applied to every request the node makes.
3

Define endpoints (or import OpenAPI)

For the API Endpoints mode, add each endpoint with a name, method, path, and typed parameters — or import an OpenAPI spec to generate them automatically.
4

Test Connection

Use Test Connection to confirm the Base URL, auth, and endpoint respond before you publish the workflow.
Back in the Inspector, pick which endpoint this node should call.
The API Connect modal here is identical to the agent’s API & Webhook tool. For the full reference — every auth type, OpenAPI import details, and free-form request options — see API & Webhook tools.

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How inputs flow in

The chosen endpoint’s parameters are filled from workflow variables of the same name. This is extract-before-call: by the time the flow reaches the API Request node, earlier Conversation or Collector nodes should have captured the variables the endpoint needs. For example, an endpoint parameter named preferred_date is automatically populated from the workflow variable {{preferred_date}}. Declare those variables in the Variables panel and make sure a preceding node collects them.

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Map the response into a variable

Reading data is only useful if the flow can act on it. The Response → Variable mapping maps a response field — by dot path — into a workflow variable.
Response field (dot path)Mapped intoUsed for
available{{slot_available}}A Condition branches on it
patient.id{{patient_id}}Reused as a parameter in a later call
Once a response field lands in a variable, a downstream Condition node can branch on it with an equation edge such as {{slot_available}} == true.

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Error handling

On a failed or timed-out call, the node follows its error edge — the call never hangs. Always give an API Request node a path to take when the request doesn’t succeed, so the agent can apologize, retry, or offer an alternative instead of leaving the caller in silence.

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Worked example — slot availability

This is the API Request step from the Appointment Booking template.
1

Collect the date

An earlier Collector/Conversation node captures the caller’s {{preferred_date}}.
2

Call the endpoint

The Check Slot Availability node calls GET /availability. Its preferred_date parameter is filled from {{preferred_date}} automatically (extract-before-call).
3

Map the response

The Response → Variable mapping maps the response field available into the boolean variable {{slot_available}}.
4

Branch on the result

The next Condition node checks the equation edge {{slot_available}} == true — routing to a “book it” branch when the slot is open, and to an “offer another time” branch otherwise.
5

Handle failures

If the call fails or times out, the node’s error edge routes to a graceful fallback so the caller still gets a response.

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Next steps

Transitions & Variables

Declare typed variables and write the equation edges that branch on your mapped response fields.

Node Types

See how the API Request node sits alongside Condition, Set Variable, and the other internal nodes.

Workflow Templates

Start from Appointment Booking to see this exact API call wired up.

API & Webhook tools

The full reference for the unified API Connect tool this node reuses.