External Sources: show data from other tools in your app
Connect Stripe, Shopify, HubSpot, Airtable, Knack and more, and show their records live in your app's tables and lists, without importing anything.
On this page
External Sources let your app show records that live in another tool, such as Stripe invoices, Shopify orders or HubSpot deals, right next to your own data. Nothing is copied into Tadabase: each time the page loads, the records are read live from the other tool. Your users can also act on a row: send an email, fill a PDF or run a workflow.
Where to find it #
In your app, hover the Data Builder icon in the left menu and choose External Sources. If you don't see it, External Sources aren't turned on for your account yet. Contact support.
Supported tools #
| Tool | What you can show | What you'll need |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Customers, Charges, Products, Subscriptions, Invoices, Payment Intents, Prices, Refunds | Secret Key |
| Shopify | Products, Orders, Customers, Draft Orders, Collections, Inventory Items | Shop domain (your-store.myshopify.com) and an Admin API access token |
| HubSpot | Contacts, Companies, Deals, Tickets, Products, Line Items, Quotes | Private App access token |
| Freshdesk | Tickets, Contacts, Companies, Agents | Your Freshdesk subdomain and API key |
| Airtable | Any table (you type the Base ID and table name or ID) | Personal access token |
| Knack | Any object | Application ID and API key |
| Quickbase | Any table | Realm hostname (yourcompany.quickbase.com), App ID and user token |
| Caspio | Any table | Account domain (for example c1abc123.caspio.com) and access token |
| ClickUp | A list in a workspace | Personal API token |
| Trello | A list on a board | API key and access token |
External databases, Google Sheets and other APIs aren't External Sources. To bring that data in, use an import or a workflow integration.
When to use it #
- Show it, don't copy it. Your team wants to see a customer's Stripe invoices or Shopify orders inside your app, and the other tool stays the source of truth.
- Act on another tool's records. Email a HubSpot contact, fill a PDF from a Freshdesk ticket, or run a workflow on a Stripe charge.
- Moving from another builder. Show your Knack, Airtable, Quickbase or Caspio data in Tadabase while you plan the move.
If you need to edit the data, connect it to your own records, filter it with record rules, or reach it over the API, import it into a Tadabase table instead.
Connect a tool #
- Add the source On the External Sources page, press Add External Source and choose the tool.
- Enter the connection details Give it a Connection Name (for example "Stripe live") and paste the key or token from the table above. You get these from the other tool's settings, usually under API or Developer settings.
- Save Press Save & Connect. The connection now appears as a tile, ready for any page or workflow in this app.
Keys are encrypted when saved, and only their last 4 characters are ever shown. To change a key, choose Edit and enter the new one; leave the field blank to keep the current key. Details shows when the connection was created and, where the tool provides it, the account it belongs to.
Show the data on a page #
- Add a Table or List In the page builder, add a Table or List component. These are the two components that can show external data.
- Switch the source In the component setup, switch from Tadabase Data Table to External Source.
- Pick the connection and what to show Choose one of Your Configured External Source connections, or set up a new one under Set Up a New External Source. Then pick the object, table, resource or list, and press Save External Source.
- Choose the columns The columns come from the other tool. Pick the ones you want, as with any table.
- Data is read live each time the page loads, so it's always current. There's no sync to schedule.
- Search, sort and paging work. They're applied across up to about 20,000 records from the other tool.
- External records are read-only here. You can't create, edit or delete them from the component.
Act on a row #
Add action links to the table or list so users can, for one external record:
- Send an Email or Send a Text Message (text messaging must be on for your app).
- Fill a PDF Form with the record's values.
- Trigger Workflow to run a workflow on that record.
For the last one, create a workflow with the External Data Source trigger. It runs when a user presses the action link (not on a schedule, and no webhook is needed). The workflow fetches that record fresh, so its fields are available in every step: emails, AI prompts, custom code, PDFs and integrations. To change the record in the other tool, add an integration step such as Update Record. Workflow history shows which external record each run used. Two presses on the same row within 30 seconds count as one run.
What's new in workflows Triggers, steps and integrations in the Tadabase builder.Who can see it #
External records are shown to anyone who can open the page the component is on. Record rules and row-level security apply to your Tadabase tables, not to data read from another tool, so control access with page and role permissions. Don't put a component that shows sensitive external data on a page every user can reach.