Zaps will not interpret values with curly braces as inputs

In Zaps, when you wrap values in double curly braces, like {{value}}, the Zap will interpret it as a special kind of element, called a curly. Curlies are a special kind of syntax that tells the Zap to interpret the value within a double curly brace as an input. The Zap will then attempt to turn it into a mapped field, as explained in this Zapier Community post.

If a Zap isn’t interpreting your curly correctly, you may see it return the values as plain text or return no value at all if the curly was the only value in the field.

Causes

This may be due to:

• Using the wrong syntax to create the mapped field.
• Using another set of double curly braces within a curly.

How to fix it

Edit your curlies syntax

If you’re trying to map a field, follow the instructions in this Zapier Community post to ensure you’re using the correct syntax.

Remove nested double curly braces

Zaps will only interpret one set of doubly curly braces as curlies. If you have another set of curly braces inside, the Zap will interpret it literally and return it as plain text.

If you’re using a Code step, pass values into your code using the Input data field instead of trying to use nested curlies.

If your app’s values already contain double curly braces, try removing them within the app before the value is sent to the Zap.

If you’re trying to pass an input from a curly in one step to a curly in a second step, use the original value that the first curly referenced instead.

For example, if you have:

• Step A that outputs the value “apple”.
• Step B that references step A in a curly, {{stepA_output}}, it will also output “apple”.
• Step C that references step B in a curly, {{stepB_output}}, the Zap will output “{{stepA_output}}” instead of "apple". This is because it will view it as {{{{stepA_output}}}} and only interpret the outermost set of double curly brackets.

Instead, set up step C to use step A directly: {{stepA_output}}.

Tip

If your trigger app does not return the field you need when you test your trigger step, but you see the field in live Zap runs, you can use a live Zap run as a test record instead of using a curly to create a custom field mapping.