Utility steps (also known as Utils) are focused steps that perform common data manipulation, extraction, encoding, file, math, and helper tasks without custom scripts. These steps don’t interact directly with external systems or make decisions; they support and simplify workflow logic, making it easier for other steps to work correctly and efficiently.
Utility steps accept data inputs and return structured outputs that are easily usable in downstream steps.
When to use
Utility steps are designed for lightweight, well-defined data operations — such as extracting a field, converting formats, or restructuring arrays and objects. They are ideal for quick, repeatable transformations that can be handled in a single step. Utility steps are optimized, easy to debug, and have input limits of up to 20 MB.
You can also apply data manipulations using the Transform Data operator. This operator is more powerful and flexible than simple utility steps, but is intended for more complex JSON-based transformations. Use it when a single Utility step isn’t enough—for example, when you’d otherwise need to chain multiple Utility steps or craft long JQ expressions. The Transform Data operator lets you describe your goal in natural language and apply several micro-transformations in one place.
The Transform Data operator supports only JSON input. The Define Transformation wizard within the operator supports up to 5MB of input. Once the transformation is generated (and is subsequently used), the step limits match the JQ step limit.
Utility step categories
Utility steps are accessed through the Builderbox and organized by capability.
Array utilities: Append, remove, merge arrays, iterate-safe helpers.
Cryptographic utilities: Calculate and generate hashes and UUIDs. Including MD5/SHA1/SHA256, UUID generation, HMAC/hash checks.
Date & Time Uuilities: Calculate current date and time durations. Including parse/format dates, timezone adjustments, epoch conversions.
Encoding utilities: Encode or decode data. Including CSV↔JSON, base64 encode/decode, URL-encode, JSON stringify/parse.
Extraction utilities: Regex extraction, IP checks (private/public), domain/URL extraction; note that regex uses Go (Golang) syntax.
File utilities: Work with files. Including create/extract from zip, list files, convert binary ↔ file references.
Math utilities: Perform calculations. Including arithmetic, solve expressions, numeric conversions.
Object utilities: Work with objects. Including add/update keys, deep-merge objects, build JSON objects.
Output utilities: Transform and present data in various formats. Including add to workflow context, format outputs, present data (tables, CSV, etc.).
Screenshot utilities: Generate a screenshot image of an HTML or webpage.
Parameter utilities: Pre-set parameters such as integrations, emails, JSON content for use throughout the workflow.
String utilities: Manipulate strings. Including defang or refang, convert to title case, escape JSON string.
Utils: Miscellaneous steps for fuzzy string compare, and other helpers.