Automation example: Getting started with Kestra

A getting started automation flow that runs successfully on the very first execution with zero secrets. It calls a public API and logs the response, so a new user sees a real result immediately. To make it yours, enable a Slack alert and a webhook or schedule trigger so the flow reacts to your own events and notifies your tools. It is the simplest way to see the call, then react pattern working in Kestra before connecting your own services.

How it works

1. The check task (io.kestra.plugin.core.http.Request) calls a public product API and captures the response. No authentication is required.
2. The report task (io.kestra.plugin.core.log.Log) logs the HTTP status code and body so the first run shows a real result.
3. The optional notify task (io.kestra.plugin.slack.notifications.SlackIncomingWebhook) posts the outcome to Slack once you enable it.
4. Optional Webhook and Schedule triggers let the flow run on an incoming event or on a cron.

What you get

• A working automation run on the first click, with no accounts or keys to configure.
• A realistic HTTP call and structured log you can adapt to any endpoint.
• Drop-in Slack alerting via {{ secret('SLACK_WEBHOOK') }}.
• Ready-to-enable webhook and schedule triggers.

Who it's for

• Ops and platform teams evaluating Kestra for automation and alerting.
• Anyone new to Kestra who wants a green first run before connecting services.
• Engineers building call, evaluate, and notify workflows on their own events.

Why orchestrate this with Kestra

A curl command can hit an API, but it cannot retry on failure, run on a schedule or an inbound webhook, keep secrets out of the code, or record every run for audit. Kestra models the whole automation as declarative YAML with triggers, retries, secret management, and full execution history. The same flow that logs a response today can, with a one-line change, alert Slack, open a ticket, or kick off a downstream pipeline.

Prerequisites

• A running Kestra instance.
• (Optional) A Slack incoming webhook for notifications.

Secrets

The default green path uses no secrets. Optional steps use:

• SLACK_WEBHOOK: Slack incoming webhook URL for the notify task.

Quick start

1. Add this flow to your Kestra instance and Execute it. It runs green with no setup.
2. To alert Slack, add a SLACK_WEBHOOK secret under Tenant > Secrets and remove disabled: true from the notify task.
3. To automate, remove disabled: true from the webhook or schedule trigger.

How to extend

• Point check at your own API and branch on the response with If conditions.
• Swap the Slack alert for email, Discord, PagerDuty, or a ticket.
• Trigger the flow from another system by POSTing to the webhook URL.
• Chain a downstream flow with Subflow once the check passes.

Links

• HTTP Request task
• Slack plugin