When to use Custom APIs
Use Custom APIs when:- The service you need is not in the integrations catalog
- You have an internal API that your apps need to call
- You want to manage API credentials centrally instead of hardcoding them
- You need the AI to understand how to call a specific API
Authentication types
Custom APIs support three authentication methods:
Choose the type that matches how the target API expects to receive credentials.
Creating a Custom API
1
Open the Integrations page
Navigate to Integrations in the left sidebar and scroll to the Custom APIs section.
2
Click Create Custom API
Click Create Custom API to open the creation form.
3
Enter the details
Fill in the following fields:
4
Choose the scope
Select who can use this Custom API:
- Organization — Available to all members and all apps in your workspace
- App-specific — Available only to a specific app
5
Save
Click Save. The credentials are encrypted and stored securely. After saving, credential values are masked in the UI and cannot be viewed again.
Environment variable injection
Each Custom API automatically gets an environment variable name based on the API name. For example:
The variable contains the credential value (API key, bearer token, or base64-encoded basic auth string).
Using Custom APIs in code
Access your Custom API credentials through environment variables in server-side code. The AI generates code like this when it knows about your Custom API:Associating documentation
You can link API documentation to a Custom API so the AI can reference it when building features. This is particularly useful for complex APIs with many endpoints. When you provide a documentation URL:- The AI reads the documentation to understand the available endpoints, request formats, and response structures
- The AI generates more accurate code because it knows the exact API contract
- You spend less time correcting the AI’s assumptions about the API
Security
Custom API credentials are protected with several security measures:- Encrypted at rest — Credentials are encrypted before being stored in the database
- Masked in the UI — After creation, credential values are hidden and cannot be retrieved through the interface
- Server-side only — Credentials are injected as server-side environment variables and never sent to the browser
- Scoped access — Organization-scoped APIs are available to all workspace members; app-specific APIs are restricted to a single app
Managing Custom APIs
From the Custom APIs section on the Integrations page, you can:- Edit — Update the name, domain, documentation URL, or scope. To change credentials, delete and recreate the Custom API.
- Delete — Remove the Custom API. Apps that reference the environment variable will lose access to the credentials.
- View — See the API name, type, scope, and associated domain. Credential values are always masked.
If you need to rotate credentials, delete the existing Custom API and create a new one with the updated credentials. The environment variable name will remain the same if you use the same API name.