How to Sync Slack Members to Copper with Pipedream

pipedream.com > Workflows > New Workflow

Create a new Pipedream workflow

Go to pipedream.com and log in. Click 'New Workflow' in the top-left dashboard. You'll land on the workflow canvas with an empty trigger slot at the top. Give the workflow a name like 'Slack → Copper Contact Sync' in the title bar so you can find it later.

1. 1Click 'New Workflow' in the left sidebar
2. 2Click the workflow title at the top and rename it to 'Slack → Copper Contact Sync'
3. 3Click 'Add a trigger' in the first step block

Trigger > Search Apps > Slack > Member Joined Channel

Set the Slack trigger: member joined channel

In the trigger search box, type 'Slack' and select it. Browse the event list and choose 'Member Joined Channel'. This trigger uses Slack's Events API under the hood — Pipedream registers a webhook URL with Slack automatically when you connect your account. You do not need to manually configure a Slack app.

1. 1Type 'Slack' in the trigger search bar
2. 2Select 'Slack' from the app results
3. 3Click 'Member Joined Channel' from the event list
4. 4Click 'Connect a Slack account' and authorize via OAuth
5. 5Select the specific Slack channel to monitor from the dropdown (e.g., #partners)

Trigger > Generate Test Event

Test the trigger with a real event

Click 'Generate Test Event' at the bottom of the trigger panel. Pipedream will prompt you to actually add a member to your selected Slack channel to produce a live payload. Do this in Slack — invite a test user or yourself to the channel. Once the event fires, Pipedream captures the raw JSON and displays it in the trigger output panel.

1. 1Click 'Generate Test Event'
2. 2Open Slack and add a member to the monitored channel
3. 3Return to Pipedream and click 'Refresh' if the event hasn't appeared
4. 4Expand the event payload to confirm you see 'user', 'channel', and 'event_ts' fields

Steps > Add Step > Slack > Get User

Add a Slack step to fetch the user's profile

Click the '+' button below the trigger to add a new step. Search for 'Slack' and select the 'Get User' action. This calls the Slack users.info API endpoint using the user ID from the trigger event. Map the user ID field to the trigger output: steps.trigger.event.event.user. This returns the full profile including display name, real name, email, title, and company.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the trigger block
2. 2Search for 'Slack' and select it
3. 3Choose 'Get User' from the action list
4. 4In the 'User ID' field, click the reference picker and select steps.trigger.event.event.user
5. 5Click 'Test' to run this step and confirm the profile returns

Steps > Add Step > Run Node.js code

Add a Node.js code step to check for duplicates

Before creating the Copper contact, you need to verify one doesn't already exist with that email. Click '+' and choose 'Run Node.js code'. Write a fetch call to the Copper People Search API using the email from the Slack profile. If Copper returns a non-empty results array, you can either skip creation or update the existing record. This prevents duplicate contacts when someone leaves and rejoins the channel.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the Get User step
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code'
3. 3Paste the duplicate-check code (see pro tip below)
4. 4Click 'Test' to run the step and inspect the output

This code handles three things in one step: duplicate checking via Copper's People Search API, email format validation, and graceful exit if the contact already exists. Paste this as a 'Run Node.js code' step between your Slack Get User step and the Copper Create Person step.

import axios from 'axios';
export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {

import axios from 'axios';

export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    const userProfile = steps.get_user.user.profile;
    const email = userProfile?.email;

    // Guard: no email means we can't create a usable Copper contact
    if (!email) {
      $.flow.exit('Skipping: Slack user has no email address in their profile.');
    }

    const copperEmail = process.env.COPPER_EMAIL;
    const copperApiKey = process.env.COPPER_API_KEY;
    const authHeader = Buffer.from(`${copperEmail}:${copperApiKey}`).toString('base64');

    // Search Copper for an existing contact with this email
    const searchResponse = await axios.post(
      'https://api.copper.com/developer_api/v1/people/search',
      { emails: [email] },
      {
        headers: {
          'X-PW-AccessToken': copperApiKey,
          'X-PW-Application': 'developer_api',
          'X-PW-UserEmail': copperEmail,
          'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        },
      }
    );

    const existingContacts = searchResponse.data;

    if (existingContacts.length > 0) {
      const existing = existingContacts[0];
      console.log(`Duplicate found: Copper Person ID ${existing.id} already has email ${email}`);
      $.flow.exit(`Skipping: Contact already exists in Copper (ID: ${existing.id}).`);
    }

    // Format data for the Copper Create Person step
    $.export('contactPayload', {
      name: userProfile.real_name || steps.get_user.user.name,
      emails: [{ email, category: 'work' }],
      phone_numbers: userProfile.phone
        ? [{ number: userProfile.phone, category: 'work' }]
        : [],
      title: userProfile.title || null,
      company_name: userProfile.company || null,
      tags: ['slack-partners'],
      lead_source: 'Slack',
    });

    console.log(`Ready to create Copper contact for ${email}`);
  },
});

Steps > Add Step > Run Node.js code

Add a conditional step to gate contact creation

Click '+' and add another 'Run Node.js code' step. Write a simple conditional that checks whether the previous step returned an existing contact ID. If it did, export a flag like $.export('should_create', false). If it didn't, export $.export('should_create', true). The next step will read this flag to decide whether to proceed.

1. 1Click '+' to add a new code step
2. 2Write the conditional check against the duplicate-check step output
3. 3Use $.export('should_create', true/false) to pass the decision downstream
4. 4Click 'Test' to confirm the exported value appears in the step output

Steps > Add Step > Copper > Create Person

Add the Copper 'Create Person' step

Click '+' and search for 'Copper'. Select the 'Create Person' action. Connect your Copper account using your Copper API key and registered email — both are found in Copper under Settings > Integrations > API. Map the fields from the Slack profile step: Name from steps.get_user.user.real_name, Email from steps.get_user.user.profile.email, Title from steps.get_user.user.profile.title, Phone from steps.get_user.user.profile.phone.

1. 1Click '+' and search for 'Copper'
2. 2Select 'Create Person'
3. 3Click 'Connect a Copper account' and enter your API key and email
4. 4Map 'Name' to steps.get_user.user.real_name
5. 5Map 'Email' to steps.get_user.user.profile.email
6. 6Map 'Title' to steps.get_user.user.profile.title

Steps > Copper > Create Person > tags field

Add a tag to the Copper contact

Immediately after the Create Person step, add another Copper step or extend the create payload to include tags. Tag the contact with the Slack channel name (e.g., 'slack-partners') so your team knows exactly how this contact entered Copper. This is especially useful when you run the same workflow across multiple channels.

1. 1In the Copper Create Person step, scroll to the optional 'Tags' field
2. 2Click the reference picker and type the channel name as a static string, e.g., 'slack-partners'
3. 3Or reference steps.trigger.event.event.channel dynamically if you want the actual channel ID as a tag

Steps > Add Step > Run Node.js code

Add error handling for failed contact creation

Click '+' after the Copper step and add a 'Run Node.js code' step. Wrap the logic in a try/catch and use $.flow.exit() to gracefully stop the workflow if Copper returns an error. Optionally, send a Slack DM to a designated admin using the Slack 'Send Message' action if the creation fails — this gives you visibility without checking Pipedream logs manually.

1. 1Click '+' to add a code step after the Copper step
2. 2Check if the Copper step output contains an error property
3. 3If error exists, call $.flow.exit('Contact creation failed: ' + error.message)
4. 4Optionally add a Slack step after to DM your admin channel with the failure details

Workflow Canvas > Deploy > Executions tab

Deploy and test with a live channel join

Click 'Deploy' in the top-right corner of the canvas. The workflow is now live and listening for Slack events. Test it by adding a real user to your monitored Slack channel. Switch to Pipedream's Executions tab (left sidebar) and watch for a new execution to appear within seconds. Click into the execution to see each step's input and output.

1. 1Click the blue 'Deploy' button in the top-right
2. 2Open Slack and add a test user to the monitored channel
3. 3Return to Pipedream and click 'Executions' in the left sidebar
4. 4Click the most recent execution to inspect each step's output
5. 5Verify the new contact appears in Copper under People