Connect tools & data

API connections

Turn any HTTP API into a function your agent can call mid-conversation: paste a cURL command and the wizard builds the tool definition, parameters, and auth.

API connections are custom HTTP functions your agents can call during a conversation — look up an order, create a ticket, fetch account status from your own backend. You define the endpoint once under Connections → APIs (/dashboard/api-connections); agents that have the connection attached can then invoke it whenever the conversation calls for it.

There are two ways to build one: paste something the wizard can analyze, or set the connection up manually.

The fast path: paste and analyze#

1. Click New API connection

   The dialog opens on the wizard. Paste a sample cURL command, OpenAPI/Swagger spec, Postman export, TypeScript interface, or Zod schema into the box.

2. Click Analyze

   ThunderPhone infers the whole connection from your paste — URL, method, headers, and a parameter schema derived from the query parameters and request body it found. Headers you pasted (including auth headers) are carried into the endpoint configuration.

3. Confirm the highlighted fields

   The inferred configuration opens with the guessed fields highlighted for review. Adjust names, descriptions, and parameter types so the agent understands when and how to call the function — the description is what the model reads.

4. Validate & Save

   Saving runs a live test request against your endpoint first. If the request fails, the connection isn't saved — fix the URL, auth headers, or body and try again. On success the connection is stored with a Validated badge.

If the wizard can't find a request URL in your paste, it will say so — include a full http(s) endpoint and try again.

Manual setup#

Click Set up manually → in the wizard (or Want AI to infer this? Try the Wizard → to go back). The manual builder has two editors:

• Visual — form fields for the display name, function name, request URL, method (POST, GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE), custom headers, and the parameter schema (Add property for each argument the agent can supply).
• JSON — the same definition as raw JSON, for pasting or fine-tuning a tool spec directly.

A Test Request panel (optional) lets you fire the configured request before saving and shows the status, latency, and a response preview. Validate & Save always runs this test and only saves on success.

Manage your connections#

Each connection row shows its validation status — Validated, Untested, or Error — its function name, and which agents use it. From the row's action menu you can:

• Edit — reopen the configuration.
• Clone — duplicate it as a starting point (the copy starts Untested).
• Revision history — view earlier versions and restore one into the editor.
• Transfer — copy or move the connection to another organization you belong to. Moving removes it here; agents that used it may need reconfiguration.
• Delete — permanent; agents using the connection will need to be reconfigured.

Attach it to an agent#

Add the connection to an agent in the builder's API connections section (Build an agent). The list shows which agents use each connection, so you can tell at a glance what a change affects.

Next steps#