A Call an API template stores a request so you can reuse it in any journey. Template management also lets you edit a saved template and choose which journeys take the change.
This guide explains how to save, select, update, and delete templates. It also explains how to apply a template update to elements that already use it.
This guide explains the following concepts:
A Call an API template stores the request settings of a Call an API element:
Method
API Endpoint URL and Path
Headers
Body
Call an API Response settings (whether response management is on, and the response variables)
Liquid Tags mode
Elements that you set up from a template stay linked to it. When you update the template, Architect lists the journeys that use it, and you choose which ones take the new version.
You manage templates inside the Call an API element, not on a separate template page.
Use template management when the same request runs in many journeys, such as an order confirmation to a CRM. If the request changes, update the template once, review the journeys that use it, and choose which elements take the new version. You do not need to edit each journey by hand.
You can use it in every Call an API element on the Architect canvas.
You can use it for journeys in any status. Draft, Test, Active, Passive, and other journeys are all listed when you update a template.
The journeys table in the Update Template drawer and the Update Elements button are enabled per account. If you do not see them, the template sync setting is not turned on for your account yet and Update Template changes the template only; existing elements keep the old version until someone selects the template again. Contact the Insider One team. Saving, selecting, updating, and deleting templates work on every account.
Manage templates
Step 1: Open a Call an API element
Add a Call an API element to your journey, or open an existing one. The Select Template button sits at the top of the page, above API Configuration. The Save Template button sits in the footer, next to Test API and Save.
Step 2: Save your request as a new template
Configure the Method, API Endpoint URL, Path, Headers, and Body.
Click the Save Template button.
In the Save as New Template drawer, enter a Template Name and click the Save button.
The template name must follow three rules:
It cannot be empty. Give your template a name to continue.
It can be at most 40 characters. The Template Name field may not be greater than 40 characters.
It must be unique. Give your template a unique name to continue.
After you save, a chip with the template name appears next to the page title, e.g., Template: Order Confirmation. The chip tells you the element is linked to that template.
Click the Save button in the footer to save the element itself.
Step 3: Use a template in another journey
In a Call an API element, click the Select Template button.
Use Search to find the template. Each card shows the template name and its endpoint URL.
Click the arrow on a card to expand it and see the body before you choose it.
Click the Select button.
The request settings are filled in from the template, and the chip appears next to the title. Click the Save button to save the element.
The Select Template drawer lists only templates that match the Liquid Tags mode of the element. A template saved without Liquid Tags does not appear in an element that has Liquid Tags on, and the other way around.
Step 4: Update a template
Open a Call an API element that is linked to the template (you see its chip).
Change the request; e.g., add a field to the Body.
Click the Save Template button. Two options appear: Update Template and Save as New Template.
Update Template: Changes the existing template.
Save as New Template: Keeps the existing template as it is and saves your changes under a new name.
You see these two options only when the element is linked to a template, and you have changed it. If nothing changed, or the element has no template yet, Save Template opens the Save as New Template drawer directly.
When you click the Update Template button, the Update Template drawer opens. You can keep or rename the template in Template Name. Below it, a table lists the journeys that use this template in a Call an API element.
The table works as follows:
Each journey row shows the journey Name, its Status, and a Go to Journey action that opens the journey in a new tab.
Expand a journey to see its Call an API elements. You can select a whole journey or a single element.
The journey you are editing is not listed. It takes the new version when you save the element.
When you select rows, a bar shows how many journeys are selected, with Select All and Clear All.
Click the Update button. The template is updated, and the selected elements take the new version.
Updating an element in an Active journey changes the request it sends from then on. Active journeys have no extra confirmation, so check the list before you click the Update button.
Journeys you leave unselected keep the previous version until you update them (Step 5).
Step 5: Update the remaining elements later
If some elements still use an older version of a template, its card in the Select Template drawer shows an Update Elements button. Hover over it to see what it does.
Click the Update Elements button. The Update Elements drawer lists only the journeys and elements that are not on the latest version yet.
Select the journeys or elements you want to update.
Click the Update Elements button.
The Update Elements button stays on the template card until every element that uses the template is on the latest version. Then it disappears.
Step 6: Know when an element stops following a template
An element stays linked to a template only while its settings match the template. Suppose you select a template, change the request, and click the Save button in the footer (not Save Template). The element keeps your changes, the chip disappears, and the element no longer appears in that template's update lists.
To keep the change for other journeys too, click the Save Template button and then choose Update Template or Save as New Template.
Step 7: Delete a template
Click the Select Template button.
Expand the template card and click the delete icon.
Click the Delete button in the Delete Template? window.
Deleting a template does not change any journey. Elements that used it keep their full request settings; only the template chip disappears.
See the request on the canvas
Click the Show Channel Preview button in the canvas toolbar to see a preview of each Call an API element on the canvas. The preview shows the following:
The template name, when the element is linked to a template.
The endpoint name and URL, the method, and the path.
The Headers and, for POST and PUT requests, the Body.
The response, only after a successful Test API, and a table of response variables when Call an API Response is on.
Sensitive header values are masked.
What changes when you update elements
When an element takes a new template version, these settings are replaced with the template's:
Method, API Endpoint URL, Path, and Headers
Body
Call an API Response on or off, and the response variables
Attribution Channel and coupon settings remain the same.
Response variables are matched by name, so Check API Response elements and dynamic content that use a variable with the same name keep working. A variable that no longer exists in the template is removed from the element.
A journey cannot be updated if a Check API Response element in it uses a response variable that the new version removed.
Dynamic content in the template might not exist in every journey, e.g., product or price drop attributes, other Call an API responses, or agent outputs. The update isn't blocked; the affected dynamic content will be empty or show its fallback.
Use case examples
Retail, order confirmation to a CRM: Ten journeys send order events to the customer’s CRM. The CRM team adds a required field. Update the template once and push it to all ten journeys.
Telco, ticket creation in a support tool: The support tool changes its API path. Update the template, then update the Live journeys right away and the Draft ones later with Update Elements.
Travel, loyalty points: A new loyalty campaign needs a slightly different body. Use Save as New Template so existing journeys keep the old request and new journeys use the new one.
Subscription, token rotation: Tokens live on the API endpoint, not in the template. Edit the endpoint in API Preferences; that change already reaches every journey and template that uses the endpoint.
Limitations
Only users with edit rights can save, update, delete, or push templates. Viewers cannot do any of these.
You manage templates only inside a Call an API element.
Back to Canvas does not ask for confirmation. Changes you did not save are discarded.
You can update up to 500 elements in one go.
The name can have at most 40 characters and must be unique on the account.
FAQ
We updated the template. Did our journeys change automatically?
Only the journeys and elements you selected in the update drawer changed. The others keep the previous version until you update them with Update Elements.
Why is the journey we are editing not in the list?
It takes the new version when you save the element you are editing.
Why can't we select one of the journeys?
It has a Check API Response element that uses a response variable that is not in the new template version. Add the variable back to the template, or change the Check API Response element first.
We changed an element, and the template chip disappeared. Why?
You saved changes that differ from the template with the footer Save button. The element keeps your changes but is no longer linked. Select the template again, or save your changes as a template.
Will deleting a template break our journeys?
No, deleting a template does not break your journeys. They keep their request settings, and only the link to the template is removed.
We can't find my template in Select Template.
Check the Liquid Tags switch. The list shows only templates that match the Liquid Tags mode of the element.
Do we see Update Elements on every account?
No, it is enabled per account. Contact the Insider team.
Where do we change an API token?
On the endpoint in API Preferences. Endpoint changes already reach every journey and template that uses the endpoint.