Make.com Tutorial: Build Your First Scenario in 20 Minutes

Make.com Interface Overview

When you open a Scenario editor in Make.com, you'll see:

Canvas: The main workspace where you drag and connect modules.

Module library: Click the "+" button to add modules. Search by app name or function.

Control bar: Run once (test), Scheduling (set up automatic execution), History (past runs).

Data panel: Click any module to see its input/output data from the last test run.

Scenario settings: Set execution frequency, error notifications, and data commit settings.

Adding and Configuring Modules

To add a module:

1. Click the "+" on the canvas (or on an existing module's connector)
2. Search for the service or function
3. Click the module you want
4. Configure it — Make guides you through each field

To connect modules: Drag from one module's right connector to the next module's left connector. Make shows what data is available from previous modules.

To delete a connection: Right-click the connection line → Delete.

Working with Data

Make's data mapping system is more powerful than most tools:

Basic mapping: Click any input field → a list of available data from previous modules appears. Click to insert.

{{1.name}} — "name" field from module 1 {{3.items[].price}} — "price" field from each item in module 3's array

Built-in functions (use in any field):

*Text functions:*

• {{upper(1.name)}} — UPPERCASE
• {{lower(1.email)}} — lowercase
• {{trim(1.description)}} — remove leading/trailing whitespace
• {{replace(1.text; "old"; "new")}} — find and replace

*Number functions:*

• {{round(1.price; 2)}} — round to 2 decimal places
• {{max(1.value; 100)}} — maximum of two values

*Date functions:*

• {{formatDate(1.created_at; "MM/DD/YYYY")}} — format a date
• {{addDays(now; 7)}} — add 7 days to today

*Conditional:*

• {{if(1.score >= 7; "hot"; "cold")}} — ternary conditional

Routing and Branching

Router module: Creates multiple parallel paths from a single input.

1. After your trigger or any module, click "+" → add Router
2. Router shows two paths by default; add more with "+"
3. Each path can have a filter (right-click the path line → "Set up a filter")
4. Only one path executes per bundle (the first one whose filter passes)

Example: Route support tickets:

• Path 1: Filter "subject contains 'billing'" → Create billing task
• Path 2: Filter "subject contains 'bug'" → Create GitHub issue
• Path 3: (no filter — fallthrough) → Create general Zendesk ticket

Aggregator: The opposite of Router. Merge multiple items into one. Use after processing an array of items when you want to aggregate results.

Iterator and Aggregator

When a module returns an array (list of items), you need an Iterator to process each item:

1. After a module that returns an array, add "Iterator"
2. Set the Array field to your array (e.g., {{1.contacts}})
3. Modules after the Iterator process each item individually

Example: Get multiple leads from HubSpot (returns array) → Iterator → Claude API (process each lead individually) → HubSpot Update (update each lead with AI result)

After an Iterator, use an Aggregator to collect results back into an array:

• Text Aggregator: combine text results
• Array Aggregator: combine results into a new array
• Numeric Aggregator: sum, average, etc.

Scheduling

Every Make Scenario has a schedule:

Interval-based: Every 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc.

Specific time: Once daily at 9am, once weekly on Monday at 8am.

Triggered by external events: Webhooks fire immediately when data is received, regardless of schedule settings.

On demand: Manual execution only (disable scheduling).

Consider your operation budget when scheduling. A Scenario with 10 modules running every 15 minutes uses 40 operations/hour × 10 = 400 operations/hour.

Error Handling

Make.com has good built-in error handling:

Break / Resume / Retry / Ignore: Right-click any module → Error Handling → choose behavior when this module fails.

• Break: Stop the execution (default). Show error in history.
• Retry: Try again automatically (up to N times with delay).
• Ignore: Skip the failed step and continue with next item.
• Resume: Continue with alternate data when the module fails.

Error Route: Add an error route from any module. If it fails, this path executes instead. Use for: Slack alert on failure, log error to Airtable, send fallback email.

Data Stores

Make's built-in database for storing data between Scenario runs:

Create a Data Store: Make.com → Data Stores → Add Data Store → define schema.

Use in Scenarios:

• Data Store → Search Records: find stored records
• Data Store → Add/Update Record: store new data
• Data Store → Get Record: fetch a specific record

Common uses:

• Track which leads you've already contacted (avoid duplicates)
• Store conversation history for AI chatbots
• Remember the last time a scheduled check ran
• Cache expensive API responses

Recommended Tools

• Make.com — The automation platform
• Claude API — AI via HTTP module
• HubSpot — CRM integration
• Airtable — Flexible data management
• Google Workspace — Sheets, Gmail, Drive triggers
• n8n — Consider if you need self-hosting or more complex logic