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Fivetran

How to integrate Fivetran with Knock

Learn how to power your Knock product notifications using synced data from your data warehouse using Fivetran Activations.

Getting started

Knock can be integrated as a downstream target in Fivetran Activations, formerly Census, to sync customer and event data from your data warehouse.

Use cases

You can use our Fivetran integration to:

Sync customer data into Knock from your data warehouse (identify recipients).
Trigger workflows from records added, changed, or removed in your data warehouse.
Populate audiences with data from your data warehouse. Audiences can be used to trigger workflows or power conditional logic during workflow execution.

Create a Knock activation in Fivetran

In Fivetran, an activation connects an activation source, such as your data warehouse, to a target. Before you can sync data into Knock, you need to create an activation with Knock as its target.

Prerequisites

Connect the data source you want to sync from as an activation source in Fivetran, under Activations > Activation Sources.
If you've enabled environments, determine which Knock environment you want to sync your data to. You most likely want to sync to your production environment, unless you're configuring a test sync.
Have your Knock environment's secret API key ready. Each environment has its own unique set of API keys; you can find your secret API key in your dashboard under Platform > API keys. Be sure that the correct environment is selected in the switcher at the top of the page.
Choose your target type. Your options are:

Custom Destination API. Our recommended target type for syncing audiences into Knock. Setup is simpler and includes automatic support for removing a user from an audience during your syncs without additional configuration.
HTTP Request. This target type is required if you need to sync users and their properties to Knock or if you need to include tenant data in your Knock audience.

Configuration instructions

Add an activation

In Fivetran, navigate to Activations and click "Add activation." Select the activation source that you want to sync from.

Select the target type

Search for and select "Custom Destination API." If Fivetran lists existing activations for this target type, click "New Activation" to create a new one.

Configure the activation

a. Input an activation name. We recommend something like Knock Production that correlates to the Knock environment that you're syncing to.

b. Copy and paste the following into the API URL field:

This endpoint kept its census path when Census became Fivetran Activations, so use it as written.

c. Click the "Add Header" button to add an Authorization header. Check the "Secret?" box for the value:

Header	Value
`Authorization`	`Bearer <your Knock secret API key>`

d. Leave "1" selected as the API Version, then click "Connect" to complete the configuration.

Fivetran will now test connectivity with Knock. This process may take a few moments to complete.

Add an activation

In Fivetran, navigate to Activations and click "Add activation." Select the activation source that you want to sync from.

Select the target type

Search for and select "HTTP Request." If Fivetran lists existing activations for this target type, click "New Activation" to create a new one.

Configure the activation

a. Input an activation name. We recommend something like Knock Production HTTP API that correlates to the Knock environment that you're syncing to.

b. Leave the Authorization Type set to "Manual."

c. Copy and paste the following into the Base URL field:

d. Click the "Add Header" button to add an Authorization header. Check the "Secret?" box for the value:

Header	Value
`Authorization`	`Bearer <your Knock secret API key>`

e. Click "Connect" to complete the configuration.

Syncing audiences into Knock from Fivetran

Records from your activation source can be synced to Knock audiences using either a Custom Destination API activation or an HTTP Request activation connected to Knock's audiences API.

Prerequisites

Complete the steps to create a Knock activation in Fivetran.
Create a static audience in Knock that will serve as the target for your sync. Be sure that you create your audience in the same environment that you used to configure your Knock activation. The HTTP Request target type requires the audience to exist before your sync runs. The Custom Destination API target type creates a missing audience automatically, named after its key, but creating it first lets you set up the workflows in the next step before any members arrive.
Ensure that any Knock workflows that should be triggered by a user's audience entry are configured and published before finalizing your Fivetran sync. If you've enabled environments, make sure they're promoted to the environment you're syncing to.
Choose an audience that isn't populated by a Knock warehouse sync. Knock rejects changes from Fivetran to an audience that a warehouse sync manages.

Add an audience sync to your Knock activation

Each activation can hold multiple activation syncs. An activation sync sends records from one table or dataset in your activation source to Knock. Fivetran presents the sync configuration as a single form; the steps below follow its sections from top to bottom.

Create a new activation sync

Navigate to Activations, open your Knock activation, and click "Add activation sync."

Configure the activation source

Under "Configure Activation Source," select "Existing Dataset & Segments" to sync from a dataset or segment you've defined in Fivetran, or "Any Warehouse Table" to sync directly from a table in your source. Then select the data that you want to sync to Knock.

Confirm the target

Under "Configure Target," your Knock activation is listed as the target. The "Audiences" object should be selected by default.

Select a sync behavior

Under "Select a Sync Behavior," select the behavior that you want to use.

Create only. New rows added to your source will be synced to Knock. Removing rows from your source will have no effect on your Knock audience.
Mirror. New rows added to your source will be added to your audience, and rows removed from your source will be removed from your audience.

Select a sync key

Under "Select a Sync Key," choose the column from your source that maps to the Knock audience User ID field. This field's value must be unique; if Fivetran detects multiple rows with the same sync key value, it marks them as duplicates and does not sync them.

Add the audience key

Under "Set Up Custom Destination API Field Mappings," you'll add the key of the Knock audience that you want to sync to. The "Knock audience key" mapping is required.

a. Click the "Source value..." dropdown next to "Knock audience key."

b. Click "Constant Value" on the left-hand side, then enter the key of your Knock audience in the input field.

c. Click "Save."

Test your sync (optional)

Under "Run a Test Sync," we recommend clicking "Run Test" to test your sync. If successful, this will sync one row of data to your Knock audience, which you can confirm in the Knock dashboard. Any errors with your source data or field mappings will be displayed in the test results. Expand "Show API Inspector" to see the request Fivetran sent to Knock and the response it received.

Finalize your sync

Click "Next." Fivetran shows a summary of your sync. Optionally add a label under "Label your Sync," then choose when the sync runs under "Setup a Trigger": "Scheduled," "Sequence," or "Manual."

Click "Create" to complete the sync creation process.

Create a new activation sync for adding users to an audience

Navigate to Activations, open your Knock HTTP Request activation, and click "Add activation sync."

Configure the activation source

Specify the request endpoint

Under "Configure Target," your Knock HTTP Request activation is listed as the target, with its base URL.

Under "Specify a request endpoint," enter the following, replacing <audience-key> with the key of your destination audience. For example, if your audience key is new-signups, you'd enter /audiences/new-signups/members.

Choose the request trigger

Under "Choose the request trigger," select "Records added."

Specify the number of records in each request

Select "Multiple records per request" to sync audience members in batches. Set "How many rows should be in the batch?" to 500.

Select a sync key

Under "Select a Sync Key," choose the column from your source that stores Knock user IDs. This field's value must be unique; if Fivetran detects multiple rows with the same sync key value, it marks them as duplicates and does not sync them.

Choose a request method and payload type

Under "Choose a request method," select POST.

Then, under "Choose payload type," select "JSON." Under "Choose how to customize the JSON payload," select "Template editor."

Configure the request body template

Modify the following template, replacing source_user_id and source_tenant_id with the names of columns from your data source that map to the Knock user ID and the Knock tenant ID. Then paste it into the editor under "Define the payload." Fivetran renders the payload as a Liquid template.

Note that column names are case-sensitive.

Configure rate limits

Under "Configure rate limits," select "Yes," then set the desired rate limit. The rate limit for add members API requests to Knock is 60 requests per second. We recommend choosing a lower number (such as 10 requests per second) to allow for multiple syncs to run at once.

You can leave "Add custom headers" empty. The Authorization header you set on your activation is included in every request.

Choose whether to backfill existing records

Under "Should existing data be synced?" select "Backfill All Records" to sync all existing records in your source data to your Knock audience, or "Skip Current Records" to only sync new records going forward.

Test your sync (optional)

Finalize your sync

Click "Next." Fivetran shows a summary of your sync. Optionally add a label under "Label your Sync," then choose when the sync runs under "Setup a Trigger": "Scheduled," "Sequence," or "Manual."

Click "Create" to complete the sync creation process.

If you want your audience sync to run in "insert only" mode, you're all set. If you'd like to also remove audience members when rows are deleted from your data source, proceed to the next step.

Create an optional sync for removing audience members

Repeat steps 1 and 2 above, using the same source data and your Knock HTTP Request activation.

When you get to step 3, paste the following into the request endpoint, with replacements:

audience_key should be the same audience key used in the previous section.
source_user_id should be the name of the column that stores Knock user IDs.
source_tenant_id should be the name of the column that stores Knock tenant IDs.

Configure the request

a. Select "Records removed" as the request trigger.

b. Select "One record per request" to remove audience members one at a time.

c. Select the same sync key as the one that you used in your "add members" sync.

d. Select DELETE as the request method. Fivetran switches the payload type to "Empty."

e. Configure a rate limit for the sync. The same 60 requests per second rate limit as your "add members" sync applies to the remove members endpoint, and we recommend a similar setting to allow for multiple syncs to run at once.

Test and finalize your sync

As above, we recommend clicking "Run Test" to test your sync. If successful, this will remove one row of data from your Knock audience, which you can confirm in the Knock dashboard. Any errors with your source data or field mappings will be displayed in the test results.

Click "Next." Fivetran shows a summary of your sync. Optionally add a label under "Label your Sync," then choose when the sync runs under "Setup a Trigger": "Scheduled," "Sequence," or "Manual."

Click "Create" to complete the sync creation process. Your setup is now complete.

Syncing customer data into Knock from Fivetran

Records from your activation source can be synced to Knock users using an HTTP Request activation connected to Knock's users API.

Prerequisites

Complete the steps to create a Knock activation in Fivetran. You'll need to configure an HTTP Request activation.

Add a user sync to your Knock activation

Follow the steps below to add a user data sync to your Knock HTTP Request activation in Fivetran. These instructions use our bulk identify endpoint to optimize migrating large numbers of user records to Knock, but you can adapt this approach to use our identify endpoint for ongoing syncs of individual user records.

Create a new activation sync

Navigate to Activations, open your Knock HTTP Request activation, and click "Add activation sync."

Configure the activation source

Specify the request endpoint

Under "Specify a request endpoint," enter the following:

Choose the request trigger

Under "Choose the request trigger," select either "Records added" or "Records added or changed." If you only plan to run a one-time sync to migrate your user data to Knock, your selection doesn't matter. Ongoing syncs should use "Records added or changed" to ensure that updated user records are synced to Knock.

Specify the number of records in each request

Select "Multiple records per request" to sync users in batches. Set "How many rows should be in the batch?" to 1000.

Select a sync key

Choose a request method and payload type

Under "Choose a request method," select POST.

Then, under "Choose payload type," select "JSON." Under "Choose how to customize the JSON payload," select "Template editor."

Configure the request body template

Under "Define the payload," write a template for your request body. Fivetran renders the payload as a Liquid template. The only required Knock field is id. To reference source columns, use the {{ record['source_column_name'] }} syntax. Note that column names are case-sensitive.

Here is an example template that identifies id, name, email, and favorite_color attributes in Knock using the columns from your source data:

Configure rate limits

Under "Configure rate limits," select "Yes," then set the desired rate limit to 1 request per second, which is the rate limit for bulk identify API requests to Knock.

Choose whether to backfill existing records

Under "Should existing data be synced?" select "Backfill All Records" to sync all existing user records in your source data to Knock, or "Skip Current Records" to only sync new user records going forward.

Test your sync (optional)

Under "Run a Test Sync," we recommend clicking "Run Test" to test your sync. If successful, this will sync one user to your Knock environment, which you can confirm in the Knock dashboard. Any errors with your source data or field mappings will be displayed in the test results.

Finalize your sync

Click "Next." Fivetran shows a summary of your sync. Optionally add a label under "Label your Sync," then choose when the sync runs under "Setup a Trigger": "Scheduled," "Sequence," or "Manual."

Click "Create" to complete the sync creation process.