Most Zapier work is straightforward, and you may not need me for it. What I get called about is the other kind: the app that has no connector, the step that needs real code, the Zap that worked until the data got bigger.
These come up repeatedly. If yours isn’t listed, it’s usually still possible — describe it and I’ll tell you honestly.
I’ve built Zapier apps with both the CLI and the Builder, so a platform with an API but no listing can still be a trigger or an action.
Date logic that survives month-end, address parsing, fuzzy matching, JSON reshaped into whatever the next system demands.
A Zap that worked at 200 records and quietly stopped seeing everything at 2,000. Usually pagination, occasionally rate limits.
Extracting fields from messy text, classifying enquiries, matching addresses that don’t agree on spelling.
Filters, retries and alerts so a failure gets flagged rather than silently doing nothing for a fortnight.
Diagnosing what changed underneath a build that used to run, then rebuilding it so the next change doesn’t break it.
A recent one: importing sales orders into an ERP that accepts only a very specific CSV structure. The Zap catches a webhook, generates a reference number, converts JSON into that exact format, calculates scheduled dates including month-end edge cases, validates every required field, and flags anything that fails rather than importing it broken. Almost all of it is Code by Zapier. None of it exists as a module.
If your Zap needs something the interface doesn’t offer, that’s usually where I start.
Zapier is simpler and has more connectors. Make handles complex branching and high volume more cheaply. If your workflow has many routes or processes thousands of records, Make usually wins; otherwise Zapier is easier to live with.
Yes, and I’d prefer to. You keep ownership, see every change, and there’s nothing to migrate afterwards.
If it has an API, it can still be connected — through webhooks, a code step, or a private Zapier app built for you.
Describe it in a paragraph. I’ll tell you what it would take — or tell you honestly it isn’t worth it.