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Quickstart

Deploy your first workflow agent in under 15 minutes. This guide walks through authentication, describing a process, deploying an agent, and running a test execution.

Step 1 — Authenticate

Get your API key from the Nexwatt dashboard under Settings → API Keys. Every API request must include this key in the Authorization header.

# Set your API key as an environment variable
export NEXWATT_API_KEY="nxwt_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

# Test your credentials
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXWATT_API_KEY" \
  https://api.nexwatts.com/v1/ping

# Expected response
{ "status": "ok", "workspace": "your-org-name" }

Step 2 — Describe your first process

Nexwatt uses a plain-language process description to configure an agent. You describe what should happen, including triggers, conditions, and destinations. The API converts this into an executable agent definition.

curl -X POST \
  https://api.nexwatts.com/v1/agents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXWATT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "approval-router-v1",
    "description": "When a purchase request above $5,000 is submitted in Jira, send a Slack message to the approver. If no response within 48 hours, escalate to the department head.",
    "connectors": ["jira", "slack"],
    "confidence_threshold": 0.65
  }'

The response includes an agent_id and a confidence score for each step in the extracted process. Steps below your confidence threshold are flagged for review before deployment.

Step 3 — Review and deploy

Before deploying, call agents.review to inspect what Nexwatt extracted from your description. Each step shows the action, target system, and confidence score.

curl https://api.nexwatts.com/v1/agents/agt_01J8K2M9P3Q4R5S6T7U8V9W0/review \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXWATT_API_KEY"

# Response shows extracted steps
{
  "agent_id": "agt_01J8K2M9P3Q4R5S6T7U8V9W0",
  "steps": [
    { "step": 1, "action": "watch_jira_issues", "confidence": 0.94 },
    { "step": 2, "action": "filter_amount_gt_5000", "confidence": 0.88 },
    { "step": 3, "action": "send_slack_message", "confidence": 0.91 },
    { "step": 4, "action": "wait_48h_escalate", "confidence": 0.72 }
  ]
}

When you're satisfied, deploy the agent:

curl -X POST \
  https://api.nexwatts.com/v1/agents/agt_01J8K2M9P3Q4R5S6T7U8V9W0/deploy \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXWATT_API_KEY"

{ "status": "active", "deployed_at": "2026-06-27T14:32:00Z" }

Step 4 — Run a test

Use a test run to verify the agent's behavior without triggering live system actions. Test runs use simulated inputs from the connected systems.

curl -X POST \
  https://api.nexwatts.com/v1/agents/agt_01J8K2M9P3Q4R5S6T7U8V9W0/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXWATT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "mode": "test", "simulate_input": true }'

# Poll for run status
curl https://api.nexwatts.com/v1/runs/run_01J8K3N0P1Q2R3S4T5U6V7W8/status \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXWATT_API_KEY"

{
  "run_id": "run_01J8K3N0P1Q2R3S4T5U6V7W8",
  "status": "completed",
  "steps_completed": 4,
  "steps_escalated": 0,
  "mode": "test"
}

Connector setup

Connectors are configured per workspace in Settings → Connectors. Each connector requires OAuth authorization or an API key depending on the service.

Connector	Auth method	Setup time
Slack	OAuth 2.0	2 min
Jira	API token	3 min
Salesforce	OAuth 2.0	5 min
BambooHR	API key	2 min
HubSpot	OAuth 2.0	3 min
Google Workspace	Service account	8 min

Agent patterns

For more complex processes, use one of the built-in agent patterns as a starting point. Patterns define the structural shape of the agent — you fill in the specific systems and conditions.

Pattern	Use for
`approval-chain`	Sequential or parallel approvals with escalation
`sync-loop`	Bidirectional field sync between two systems on schedule
`event-trigger`	Single-event trigger with conditional branching
`escalation-tree`	SLA-based routing with multi-level escalation paths

API Reference