Group inputs and outputs are used to create a clean interface for data to flow into and out of a group, making groups work like reusable components or functions. Every group you create will have both a group input and a group output, allowing you to manage the data exchange between the group and its parent story.
Read more about groups in our Overview of Groups article here.
Group input
The group input allows you to define custom fields that can pass data into your group from the rest of your story. They act as the parameters for your group. This makes it easy to send necessary information to your group to execute its defined actions.
A group input can be configured with one or more custom options, each supporting a specific data type:
Object: Displays an object builder for structured data input.
Plain Text: Renders a simple plaintext input field.
Checkbox: Renders a single-option checkbox.
Number: Renders a number input field.
Formula: Renders an input field that supports Tines formulas.
Group output
The group output is where you configure the data that will be returned from the group back to the parent story. This ensures the results of the group's actions are correctly formatted and available for the next action in your workflow to reference the data.
Example use case
Imagine a group called "Enrich IP Address":
Group Input: Receives ip_address from upstream actions
Internal Actions: Looks up geolocation, threat intel, WHOIS data
Group Output: Returns enriched data object with all findings
The result is that any action can send an IP to this group and get back enriched data, without knowing how enrichment works internally
Without group inputs and outputs, actions inside a group couldn't receive data from outside, and actions outside couldn't access the group's results.
Read more about groups in our docs here.