# Working with external APIs

Mechanic tasks can interact with any HTTP-accessible service. Use the [HTTP action](https://learn.mechanic.dev/core/actions/http) to call REST APIs, send webhooks, or post data to external systems. Use Mechanic's [incoming webhooks](https://learn.mechanic.dev/platform/webhooks) to receive data from external services and trigger tasks. This makes Mechanic suitable for integration workflows that go beyond Shopify — syncing data with ERPs, CRMs, fulfillment services, or any system with an API.

{% hint style="info" %}
For a higher-level overview of connecting Mechanic to third-party services — including built-in integrations and authentication patterns — see [Connecting third-party apps](https://learn.mechanic.dev/platform/integrations/connecting-third-party-apps).
{% endhint %}

## Loading data into Mechanic

Mechanic is an event-driven platform. This means that all data *used* by Mechanic needs to arrive in the form of an event. (The only exception here is Shopify itself: see [Interacting with Shopify](https://learn.mechanic.dev/core/shopify)).

To create events using third-party data, use one of these techniques:

* Use [the HTTP action](https://learn.mechanic.dev/core/actions/http) to request the data you require, subscribing to mechanic/actions/perform to actually *use* the downloaded data.
* Use [Couchdrop's Shared Links](https://couchdrop.io/features/shared-links) feature with an external FTP server or other cloud storage provider, to make any file available via a secret URL. Then, use [the HTTP action](https://learn.mechanic.dev/core/actions/http) to request that data.
* Use Mechanic's [webhooks](https://learn.mechanic.dev/platform/webhooks) to POST your data directly to Mechanic.
* Use inbound email to deliver your data to Mechanic, either in the message body or as an attachment. See [Receiving email](https://learn.mechanic.dev/platform/email/receiving-email).
* If you only need to move files around, without actually using the file *contents*, use the [Files](https://learn.mechanic.dev/core/actions/files) action with the [URL](https://learn.mechanic.dev/core/actions/file-generators/url) file generator to download external files to a temporary Mechanic URL.

## Writing data to an external service

* Use the [HTTP](https://learn.mechanic.dev/core/actions/http) action, using standard HTTP requests, with options for authenticating with custom headers.
* Use the [FTP](https://learn.mechanic.dev/core/actions/ftp) action to upload data to third-party locations. Optionally, use a connecting service like [Couchdrop](https://couchdrop.io/) to connect to another cloud storage provider (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, S3, [etc](https://couchdrop.io/features/cloud-storage)).
* Use a [cache endpoint](https://learn.mechanic.dev/platform/cache/endpoints) to save your data to an unguessable URL, where an external service may download it.

## Examples

* [Task: Add new customers to GetResponse](https://usemechanic.com/task/add-new-customers-to-getresponse)
* [Task: Send an event to Klaviyo when a fulfillment is delayed](https://tasks.mechanic.dev/send-an-event-to-klaviyo-when-a-fulfillment-is-delayed)
* [Demonstration: Query external paginated API](https://tasks.mechanic.dev/demonstration-query-external-paginated-api)