🔗 Custom Webhooks & JSON Templates

Transform conversations into structured data and automate workflows with custom webhooks and JSON templates

Automate Your Data Extraction and Workflow Integration

At Quill, we're constantly evolving to make your meeting insights more actionable. Custom webhooks combined with JSON templates represent a powerful new way to extract structured data from conversations and automatically send it to your favorite tools. Whether you're tracking startup metrics, updating CRM systems, or building custom workflows, this feature transforms unstructured conversations into organized, actionable data. This guide will show you how to set up custom webhooks, create JSON templates, and build automated workflows that save you time and ensure nothing important gets lost.

Understanding the Power of JSON Templates

JSON templates allow you to define exactly what information you want Quill to extract from your conversations and how it should be structured. This isn't just about creating notes – it's about turning conversations into structured data that can flow directly into your existing systems. Imagine having a conversation with a portfolio company where they mention their revenue and key metrics, and with one click, that information is automatically extracted and sent to your tracking spreadsheet.

"This is very powerful along with JSON templates, which not that many people may know about."

The combination of structured data extraction and webhook automation means you can maintain accurate records without manual data entry, ensuring your databases and spreadsheets are always up-to-date with the latest information from your meetings.

Creating Your First JSON Template

Setting up a JSON template begins in your Quill settings. Navigate to Settings, then Personalize, where you can review and create templates. When creating a new template, you'll want to change the style to JSON, which reveals two essential components: text instructions and a data format specification.

"You would go to your settings, personalize, and then review a template... Change the style over to JSON. And you'll see that JSON has both text instructions as well as a data format."

The text instructions tell Quill what to look for in the conversation – for example, "extract personal updates from the startup founder so I can follow up socially." The data format defines the structure of the extracted information, such as arrays containing date, founder name, and update strings.

Defining Your Data Structure

When creating your data format, you can start simple with basic field definitions. For a social updates tracker, you might create an array structure with fields for date, founder name (string), and update (string). While you can define these manually, consider using AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude to generate a proper JSON schema, which makes it easier for Quill's language model to follow your instructions accurately.

"You can do something as simple as saying update. Let's make an array of updates... date founder name string and update string."

Once you've defined your structure and saved your template with a descriptive name like "Social Updates," it becomes available for use with any of your meetings, ready to extract exactly the information you need.

Setting Up Webhook Automation with Zapier

The real magic happens when you connect your JSON templates to external services through webhooks. Using Zapier, you can create a new Zap with a webhook trigger set to "Catch Hook." The key configuration is setting the child key to "data" to properly receive the structured information from Quill.

"Over in Zapier, I might want to create a new zap. The trigger is going to be a webhook and it's going to catch the hook. The child key will be data."

Zapier provides you with a unique webhook URL that becomes the bridge between Quill and your destination service. You can test this connection using Quill's one-off webhook button to ensure data flows correctly before creating a permanent automation button.

Creating Custom Webhook Buttons

Once your webhook is tested and working, you can create a custom button in Quill's interface for one-click automation. Navigate to Automations and Integrations, then create a custom webhook button. Give it a descriptive name like "Founder Social" and optionally add a PNG icon for visual recognition.

"I would just go to again over to automations and integrations. Create a custom webhook button here and I'd say founder social."

These custom buttons appear alongside your notes, making it effortless to send structured data to your configured endpoints whenever you need to update your external systems.

Connecting to Your Favorite Services

With your webhook configured in Zapier, you can connect to virtually any service. The example shows creating Google Docs automatically, but the same approach works for Airtable, Google Sheets, Notion, or any other tool that Zapier supports. You can pull out specific fields like founder name, date, and updates to populate documents or database entries automatically.

"Let's go ahead and create Google Doc... Here I can pull out the founder name, date, and the update."

The flexibility extends beyond JSON templates – even regular notes can be sent through custom webhooks, giving you multiple ways to integrate Quill with your workflow.

Real-World Application: Tracking Startup Metrics

The video demonstrates a practical example of tracking portfolio company metrics. After a casual conversation where a startup mentions their revenue and key metrics (like "newly certified astronauts"), one click sends this structured data to a spreadsheet, automatically populating fields for company name, date, revenue period, current revenue, key metrics, and conversation notes.

"I've updated my spreadsheet with the name of the startup, the date, revenue period, current revenue, key metric, newly certified astronauts, currently there's 800, and a few notes from the conversation."

This automation ensures critical business intelligence is captured systematically without disrupting the natural flow of conversation.

Summary & How-To

✅ Create a JSON Template: Go to Settings > Personalize > Review Template

• Create new template and change style to JSON
• Define text instructions and data format

✅ Design Your Data Structure: Specify fields and data types (strings, arrays, etc.)

• Consider using AI tools to generate proper JSON schemas
• Save template with descriptive name

✅ Set Up Zapier Webhook: Create new Zap with webhook trigger

• Set to "Catch Hook" with child key "data"
• Copy the webhook URL provided

✅ Test Your Webhook: Use one-off webhook button in Quill

• Verify data arrives correctly in Zapier
• Test the trigger to confirm field mapping

✅ Create Custom Button: Go to Automations and Integrations

• Create custom webhook button with name and optional icon
• Button appears in your notes interface

✅ Connect Destination Service: Configure Zapier action (Google Docs, Sheets, Airtable, etc.)

• Map extracted fields to destination fields
• Test and publish your automation

✅ Use in Meetings: Apply JSON template to extract structured data

• Click custom webhook button to send to configured service
• Data automatically populates in your connected tools