Automate Zoom User Onboarding with OAuth Token Management and Data Tables

This workflow automates the management of Zoom OAuth tokens and the creation of new Zoom users through the Zoom API.

This workflow automates the process of creating a new Zoom user by first ensuring a valid OAuth access token is available. It is designed to handle the fact that Zoom access tokens are short-lived (1 hour) by using a longer-lived refresh token (90 days) stored in an n8n Data Table.

It includes two main phases:

1. Token Generation & Management

   • The workflow initially requests a Zoom access token using the OAuth 2.0 “authorization code” method.
   • The resulting access token (valid for 1 hour) and refresh token (valid for 90 days) are stored in an n8n Data Table.
   • When executed again, the workflow checks for the most recent token, refreshes it using the refresh token, and updates the Data Table automatically.

2. User Creation in Zoom

   • Once a valid token is retrieved, the workflow collects the user’s first name, last name, and email (set in the “Data” node).
   • It then generates a secure random password for the new user.
   • Using the Zoom API, it sends a POST request to create the new user, automatically triggering an invitation email from Zoom.

Key Features

1. ✅ Full Automation of Zoom Authentication

   • Eliminates manual token handling by automatically refreshing and updating OAuth credentials.

2. ✅ Centralized Token Storage

   • Securely stores access and refresh tokens in an n8n Data Table, simplifying reuse across workflows.

3. ✅ Error Prevention

   • Ensures that expired tokens are replaced before API requests, avoiding failed Zoom operations.

4.✅ Automatic User Provisioning

• Creates Zoom users automatically with prefilled credentials and triggers Zoom’s built-in invitation process.

1. ✅ Scalability

   • Can be easily extended to handle bulk user creation, role assignments, or integration with other systems (e.g., HR, CRM).

2. ✅ Transparency & Modularity

   • Each node is clearly labeled with “Sticky Notes” explaining every step, making maintenance and handover simple.

How it works

1. Trigger and Data Retrieval: The workflow starts manually. It first retrieves user data (first name, last name, email) from the "Data" node. In parallel, it fetches all stored token records from a Data Table.
2. Token Management: The retrieved tokens are sorted and limited to get only the most recent one. This latest token (which contains the refresh_token) is then used in an HTTP Request to Zoom's OAuth endpoint to generate a fresh, valid access_token.
3. User Creation: The new access_token and refresh_token are saved back to the Data Table for future use. The workflow then generates a random password for the new user, merges this password with the initial user data, and finally sends a POST request to the Zoom API to create the new user. If the creation is successful, Zoom automatically sends an invitation email to the new user.

Set up steps

1. Prepare the Data Table:

   • Create a new Data Table in your n8n project.
   • Add two columns to it: accessToken and refreshToken.

2. Configure Zoom OAuth App:

   • Create a standard OAuth app in the Zoom Marketplace (not a Server-to-Server app).
   • Note your Zoom account_id.
   • Encode your Zoom app's client_id and client_secret in Base64 format (as client_id:client_secret).
   • In both the "Get new token" and "Zoom First Access Token" nodes, replace the "XXX" in the Authorization header with this Base64-encoded string.

3. Generate Initial Tokens (First Run Only):

   • Manually execute the "Zoom First Access Token" node once. This node uses an authorization code to fetch the first-ever access and refresh tokens and saves them to your Data Table. The main workflow will use these stored tokens from this point forward.

4. Configure User Data:

   • In the "Data" node, set the default values for the new Zoom user by replacing the "XXX" placeholders for first_name, last_name, and email.

After these setup steps, the main workflow (triggered via "When clicking 'Execute workflow'") can be run whenever you need to create a new Zoom user. It will automatically refresh the token and use the provided user data to create the account.

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