With the increasing demand for streamlined file transfers to external systems, I contributed to the design and development of Outbound HTTP Connectors within our cloud platform. This enhancement expands our existing API connector framework to support more flexible, user-configurable HTTP integrations, including modern authentication methods like OAuth.
Portfolio
Designed an intuitive UI to enable users to define simple API connectors directly within the platform, supporting single POST or PUT file drop operations to a specified URL.
Users can customize: HTTP headers, Authentication methods (Basic HTTP, API Key, OAuth Client Credentials), Body formats (Raw, Form-data, configurable MIME types, key-value form data).
Portfolio
Introduced functionality to poll external HTTP endpoints at scheduled intervals to automatically retrieve new data (e.g., polling an invoice API to download newly available invoices). This capability allows the platform to actively pull data into the system, complementing the original outbound file drop functionality.
Developed a flexible mechanism that allows users to define and customize request bodies when sending data to webhooks or APIs. Users can dynamically configure content, supporting a range of payload formats beyond simple file attachments, enhancing compatibility with diverse API requirements.
Portfolio
Enabled the ability to use data from one API response as input for subsequent requests within the same workflow. This feature supports complex, multi-step API interactions, such as retrieving an authentication token from one call and using it in a follow-up request, or extracting file identifiers to download related data. This enhancement allows users to build richer, more dynamic integrations directly within the platform.
To support the design and development process, I conducted extensive research into customer needs, industry standards, and authentication best practices. The research findings, technical analysis, and design considerations were documented using accordion-style sections within internal documentation, allowing stakeholders to expand or collapse specific sections for a cleaner, more navigable reference.
Accordion Sections Covered: Customer Use Cases and Requirements, Comparative Analysis of Authentication Methods, Industry Best Practices for Secure File Transfers, Technical Limitations and Considerations, Future Scalability and Enhancement Opportunities