FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Paragon.
What does Paragon do?
Paragon is a platform that lets you visually build, run, and manage workflows.
What does Paragon connect to?
Paragon supports direct integration with popular databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Firebase) and APIs (Twilio, Sendgrid, Google Sheets, Slack). You can take a look at our Integrations Catalog for a full list of supported integrations.
If you need to connect with a service that we don't support direct integration with yet, you can connect with any API via HTTP request.
How long does it take to learn Paragon?
It generally takes around five minutes to understand the concepts of Paragon, and under an hour for it to feel natural.
Who uses Paragon? Engineers or non-technical people?
A developer can usually integrate Paragon with their application in a few hours, after which new integrations can be easily added on Paragon by non-technical users such as product, growth, or client services teams.
If you're familiar with JSON and basic API requests or database queries, you'll be right at home with Paragon. Many Paragon users are non-technical people like product managers, who are able to use Paragon to build workflows without relying on engineers.
While Paragon's visual workflow editor provides less technical users with powerful no-code abstractions, if you need to incorporate more complex logic or operations, Paragon supports writing native cloud functions in Javascript. This makes Paragon flexible enough to support even the most sophisticated use cases, and allows engineers to extend Paragon workflows in many powerful ways.
What kind of integrations do people build with Paragon?
Companies use Paragon to build user-facing integrations that connect their product with their users' applications (e.g. connect to your users Salesforce, Slack, or Google accounts).
Here are some examples of use cases built with Paragon:
Sync your customer's Salesforce records to display in your app
Update your customer's Salesforce records with data from your app
Send notifications to your customers' Slack workspaces
Sync your customers' Google Calendar events to display in your app
Create events in your customers' Google Calendar from events in your app
How does Paragon compare to services like Zapier?
Zapier is well suited for basic tasks that send single objects of data from one point to another. Paragon is designed for more complex workflows that need to process large sets of data or run custom logic. For example, if you're looking to accomplish something like "find the inactive users in my database and send them re-engagement messages every week", then Paragon is probably for you.
For developers, Paragon provides a built-in Javascript IDE for writing cloud functions, which makes it a far more powerful and extensible alternative to Zapier. Many developers use Paragon as a visual, user-friendly alternative to Amazon or Google Cloud functions, where they can write cloud functions that non-technical team members can then use in their workflows.
What if I want an integration Paragon doesn't support yet?
Even if we don't support native integration with a service you need, you can still connect to it using Paragon's HTTP Request step if the service has a public API.
That being said - we're adding new integrations every week, so let us know if there's an integration you need and we'll add it to our roadmap!
How do I switch between Paragon Connect and Paragon Automate?
You can switch between Paragon Connect and Paragon Automate by following these steps:
Log in to your Paragon account.
Click your team name in the top-left corner of the dashboard
Click on Paragon Automate or Paragon Connect to switch to that product.
Is Paragon secure? Where is my data stored?
We take security extremely seriously at Paragon and have an entire section dedicated to how Paragon securely handles your data.
I have a question that isn't answered here!
Send us an email and we'll answer your question as soon as we can - usually within 24 business hours.
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