ExampleIntermediate1 min readUpdated May 19, 2026

manualmessagingoptionsnewsgdeltcontactinteractive

Climate News Options To Contact

Manual workflow that fetches five climate-related GDELT news articles, sends them as interactive contact options, and returns the full article text after the contact selects one.

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Before You Import

The URLs in this example use a https://<your-gdelt-proxy> placeholder that you must replace with a service you host:

• Step 1 calls <your-gdelt-proxy>/doc with GDELT DOC 2.0 query parameters (query, mode=ArtList, maxrecords, format=json) and expects a JSON response with an articles array where each article has a title and a url. This matches what GDELT's public https://api.gdeltproject.org/api/v2/doc/doc endpoint returns, so your proxy can forward this call as-is.
• The option actions call <your-gdelt-proxy>/doc/content with a url parameter and expect a JSON response with a text field containing the extracted article body (an optional title field is used as a heading when present). GDELT's public API has no article-text-extraction endpoint, so your service must implement this part itself (for example, by fetching the article URL and extracting its readable text).

If you only need the article listing without full text, see Fetch GDELT Public News (Encoded String), which calls GDELT's public API directly.

Full JSON

Click to expand

{
  "description": "Manual workflow that fetches five climate-related GDELT news articles, sends them as interactive contact options, and returns the full article text after the contact selects one.",
  "tags": [
    "manual",
    "messaging",
    "options",
    "news",
    "gdelt",
    "contact",
    "interactive"
  ],
  "document": {
    "name": "Climate News Options To Contact",
    "enabled": true,
    "log_level": "info",
    "trigger": {
      "type": "manual"
    },
    "workflowInput": [
      {
        "name": "contact",
        "description": "Contact to receive the news options",
        "schema": {
          "type": "ref",
          "required": true,
          "enableEnums": false,
          "enum": [],
          "ref": "contacts"
        }
      }
    ],
    "steps": [
      {
        "condition": {
          "expr": "true",
          "onFailure": "throw",
          "fallback": "",
          "resultType": "any",
          "strict": false,
          "useSimpleCel": false
        },
        "action": {
          "actionType": "actions/network/http/request/send",
          "actions/network/http/request/send": {
            "method": "GET",
            "url": {
              "expr": "\"https://<your-gdelt-proxy>/doc?query=climate&mode=ArtList&maxrecords=5&format=json\"",
              "onFailure": "throw",
              "fallback": "",
              "resultType": "any",
              "strict": false,
              "useSimpleCel": false
            },
            "headers": [],
            "returnBuffer": false,
            "cache": false
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "condition": {
          "expr": "present(contact) && step_ok(0) && size(step_data(0, \"articles\", [])) >= 5",
          "onFailure": "throw",
          "fallback": "",
          "resultType": "any",
          "strict": false,
          "useSimpleCel": false
        },
        "action": {
          "actionType": "actions/messaging/contact/send",
          "actions/messaging/contact/send": {
            "use_manual_id": true,
            "contactId_manual": {
              "expr": "contact",
              "onFailure": "throw",
              "fallback": "",
              "resultType": "any",
              "strict": false,
              "useSimpleCel": false
            },
            "messages": [
              {
                "type": "options",
                "payload": {
                  "title": {
                    "expr": "\"Top 5 Climate News\"",
                    "onFailure": "throw",
                    "fallback": "",
                    "resultType": "any",
                    "strict": false,
                    "useSimpleCel": false
                  },
                  "description": {
                    "expr": "\"Choose one option to receive the complete story text.\"",
                    "onFailure": "throw",
                    "fallback": "",
                    "resultType": "any",
                    "strict": false,
                    "useSimpleCel": false
                  },
                  "options": [
                    {
                      "label": {
                        "expr": "substring(coalesce(step(0).data.articles[0].title, \"News 1\"), 0, 24)",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "value": {
                        "expr": "coalesce(step(0).data.articles[0].url, \"\")",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "actions": [
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "present(coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/network/http/request/send",
                            "actions/network/http/request/send": {
                              "method": "GET",
                              "url": {
                                "expr": "url_params(\"https://<your-gdelt-proxy>/doc/content\", {\"url\": coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value)})",
                                "onFailure": "throw",
                                "fallback": "",
                                "resultType": "any",
                                "strict": false,
                                "useSimpleCel": false
                              },
                              "headers": [],
                              "returnBuffer": false,
                              "cache": false
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "step_ok(0) && present(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "(present(step_data(0, \"title\")) ? step_data(0, \"title\") + \"\\n\\n\" : \"\") + step_data(0, \"text\", \"\")",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "!step_ok(0) || blank(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "\"I couldn't fetch the full story right now. Try another option in a moment.\"",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        }
                      ],
                      "forwardMessageToAgent": false
                    },
                    {
                      "label": {
                        "expr": "substring(coalesce(step(0).data.articles[1].title, \"News 2\"), 0, 24)",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "value": {
                        "expr": "coalesce(step(0).data.articles[1].url, \"\")",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "actions": [
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "present(coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/network/http/request/send",
                            "actions/network/http/request/send": {
                              "method": "GET",
                              "url": {
                                "expr": "url_params(\"https://<your-gdelt-proxy>/doc/content\", {\"url\": coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value)})",
                                "onFailure": "throw",
                                "fallback": "",
                                "resultType": "any",
                                "strict": false,
                                "useSimpleCel": false
                              },
                              "headers": [],
                              "returnBuffer": false,
                              "cache": false
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "step_ok(0) && present(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "(present(step_data(0, \"title\")) ? step_data(0, \"title\") + \"\\n\\n\" : \"\") + step_data(0, \"text\", \"\")",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "!step_ok(0) || blank(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "\"I couldn't fetch the full story right now. Try another option in a moment.\"",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        }
                      ],
                      "forwardMessageToAgent": false
                    },
                    {
                      "label": {
                        "expr": "substring(coalesce(step(0).data.articles[2].title, \"News 3\"), 0, 24)",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "value": {
                        "expr": "coalesce(step(0).data.articles[2].url, \"\")",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "actions": [
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "present(coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/network/http/request/send",
                            "actions/network/http/request/send": {
                              "method": "GET",
                              "url": {
                                "expr": "url_params(\"https://<your-gdelt-proxy>/doc/content\", {\"url\": coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value)})",
                                "onFailure": "throw",
                                "fallback": "",
                                "resultType": "any",
                                "strict": false,
                                "useSimpleCel": false
                              },
                              "headers": [],
                              "returnBuffer": false,
                              "cache": false
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "step_ok(0) && present(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "(present(step_data(0, \"title\")) ? step_data(0, \"title\") + \"\\n\\n\" : \"\") + step_data(0, \"text\", \"\")",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "!step_ok(0) || blank(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "\"I couldn't fetch the full story right now. Try another option in a moment.\"",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        }
                      ],
                      "forwardMessageToAgent": false
                    },
                    {
                      "label": {
                        "expr": "substring(coalesce(step(0).data.articles[3].title, \"News 4\"), 0, 24)",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "value": {
                        "expr": "coalesce(step(0).data.articles[3].url, \"\")",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "actions": [
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "present(coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/network/http/request/send",
                            "actions/network/http/request/send": {
                              "method": "GET",
                              "url": {
                                "expr": "url_params(\"https://<your-gdelt-proxy>/doc/content\", {\"url\": coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value)})",
                                "onFailure": "throw",
                                "fallback": "",
                                "resultType": "any",
                                "strict": false,
                                "useSimpleCel": false
                              },
                              "headers": [],
                              "returnBuffer": false,
                              "cache": false
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "step_ok(0) && present(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "(present(step_data(0, \"title\")) ? step_data(0, \"title\") + \"\\n\\n\" : \"\") + step_data(0, \"text\", \"\")",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "!step_ok(0) || blank(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "\"I couldn't fetch the full story right now. Try another option in a moment.\"",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        }
                      ],
                      "forwardMessageToAgent": false
                    },
                    {
                      "label": {
                        "expr": "substring(coalesce(step(0).data.articles[4].title, \"News 5\"), 0, 24)",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "value": {
                        "expr": "coalesce(step(0).data.articles[4].url, \"\")",
                        "onFailure": "throw",
                        "fallback": "",
                        "resultType": "any",
                        "strict": false,
                        "useSimpleCel": false
                      },
                      "actions": [
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "present(coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/network/http/request/send",
                            "actions/network/http/request/send": {
                              "method": "GET",
                              "url": {
                                "expr": "url_params(\"https://<your-gdelt-proxy>/doc/content\", {\"url\": coalesce(trigger.value, contactMessage.body.value)})",
                                "onFailure": "throw",
                                "fallback": "",
                                "resultType": "any",
                                "strict": false,
                                "useSimpleCel": false
                              },
                              "headers": [],
                              "returnBuffer": false,
                              "cache": false
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "step_ok(0) && present(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "(present(step_data(0, \"title\")) ? step_data(0, \"title\") + \"\\n\\n\" : \"\") + step_data(0, \"text\", \"\")",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        },
                        {
                          "condition": {
                            "expr": "!step_ok(0) || blank(step_data(0, \"text\"))",
                            "onFailure": "throw",
                            "fallback": "",
                            "resultType": "any",
                            "strict": false,
                            "useSimpleCel": false
                          },
                          "action": {
                            "actionType": "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose",
                            "actions/messaging/conversation/response/compose": {
                              "messages": [
                                {
                                  "type": "text",
                                  "payload": {
                                    "text": {
                                      "expr": "\"I couldn't fetch the full story right now. Try another option in a moment.\"",
                                      "onFailure": "throw",
                                      "fallback": "",
                                      "resultType": "any",
                                      "strict": false,
                                      "useSimpleCel": false
                                    }
                                  }
                                }
                              ]
                            }
                          }
                        }
                      ],
                      "forwardMessageToAgent": false
                    }
                  ]
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "condition": {
          "expr": "present(contact) && !(step_ok(0) && size(step_data(0, \"articles\", [])) >= 5)",
          "onFailure": "throw",
          "fallback": "",
          "resultType": "any",
          "strict": false,
          "useSimpleCel": false
        },
        "action": {
          "actionType": "actions/messaging/contact/send",
          "actions/messaging/contact/send": {
            "use_manual_id": true,
            "contactId_manual": {
              "expr": "contact",
              "onFailure": "throw",
              "fallback": "",
              "resultType": "any",
              "strict": false,
              "useSimpleCel": false
            },
            "messages": [
              {
                "type": "text",
                "payload": {
                  "text": {
                    "expr": "\"I couldn't load 5 climate news items right now. Please run this workflow again in a moment.\"",
                    "onFailure": "throw",
                    "fallback": "",
                    "resultType": "any",
                    "strict": false,
                    "useSimpleCel": false
                  }
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    ],
    "returnExpression": {
      "expr": "{\"requestedContact\": contact, \"status\": step(0).status, \"articles\": get(step(0), \"data.articles\", [])}",
      "onFailure": "throw",
      "fallback": "",
      "resultType": "any",
      "strict": false,
      "useSimpleCel": false
    },
    "customAttributes": {}
  }
}

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