Connecting to Webflow

Machined.ai has a native Webflow integration that lets you publish content directly to your CMS Collections.

Connections are set up per project. Open Project settings (the gear icon next to the project name at the top of the page), go to the Integrations tab, and click the Webflow tile under Connect a CMS.

Only workspace owners and admins can add, edit or remove integrations. Other members see the connections but can't change them.

Step 1: Get your Webflow API token

1. Log into your Webflow dashboard. Under All projects, click the ⋯ menu on the site you want to connect

2. Click Settings

3. In the site settings sidebar, click Apps & Integrations

4. Scroll down to API access and click Generate API token

5. In the Generate an API Token dialog, give the token a name such as "Machined", then set Assets and CMS to Read and write

6. Scroll down and set Sites to Read-only. Leave everything else as No access, then click Generate token

7. Copy the token from the Save your API token dialog. Webflow won't show it again, so copy it before you close the dialog

Step 2: Enter your access token

In the Connect Webflow dialog, paste the token into the Access token field and click Verify.

Step 3: Select your site

Choose the Webflow site you want to publish to from Site, then click Next.

Step 4: Select your collection

Choose the CMS collection you want to publish to from Collection, then click Next.

Each connection points at one collection. If you have several collections on the same site, add a separate connection for each.

Step 5: Map your fields

Machined tries to match its fields to your collection's fields automatically. Anything it can't match is listed at the top of the step ("Could not auto-detect: … Please map manually.") so you can pick the right field yourself.

• Title (required): your article title field, usually Name. Must be a plain text field.
• Body (required): your main content field. Must be a Rich Text field.
• Slug (required): your slug field, usually Slug. Must be a plain text field.
• Excerpt (optional): an excerpt or meta description field. Must be a plain text field.
• Featured image (optional): your cover image field. Must be an Image field.

Click Connect to save. The connection then appears under Publishing destinations as Site › Collection with a Connected status.

What Machined can access

When you connect, Machined gets access to your Webflow site to create and update CMS items.

What you give Machined

A site API token, with the permissions you choose.

What it can do

Whatever you gave the token permission for, on that one site only.

What Machined uses it for

• Reading your site, its collections and their fields
• Creating and updating items, checking whether they're live, and publishing them
• Uploading images

How to limit it

Give the token only the permissions in Step 1: Sites read-only, CMS read and write, and Assets read and write.

Across every connection

• The connection belongs to this project only. Other projects in your workspace can't publish through it.
• Machined stores your API token encrypted, uses it only on its own servers when connecting and publishing, and never shows it in the app again.
• Machined never deletes anything in Webflow. Unpublishing an article in Machined doesn't remove the post from Webflow.
• Removing the connection in Machined deletes the stored API token. To cut off access straight away, also revoke the token in your site's settings under Apps & Integrations → API access.

Managing a connection

Each connection row has two actions:

• Move to another project: moves the connection to a different project in your workspace
• Remove connection: deletes the connection after you confirm

To change the field mapping or collection, remove the connection and connect again.

Troubleshooting

If publishing fails, the error screen shows a message explaining what went wrong. The most common ones:

"Could not use that token"

The access token was rejected. Check you copied the whole token, and that it hasn't been deleted in Webflow. If in doubt, generate a new token.

"No sites found"

The token doesn't have access to any site. Generate a token from the settings of the site you want to connect, with the permissions listed in Step 1.

Permission errors when publishing

If you see "Your Webflow connection doesn't have permission for this action", the token was created without CMS write access. Remove the connection, generate a new token with CMS read and write access, and connect again.

"We couldn't find the Webflow site or collection"

The site or collection may have been deleted or renamed in Webflow. Remove the connection and connect again, selecting the site and collection.

Missing or unmapped fields

If publishing says your collection is missing a field or a required field isn't mapped, check that your collection still has the fields you mapped. If you've changed the collection's fields, remove the connection and connect again.

Duplicate slugs

If publishing reports a conflict with an existing item, there's usually already an item with the same slug in the collection. You can't change an article's slug in Machined, so in Webflow, change the existing item's slug, or delete the item if you no longer need it. Then try again.

Still stuck?

Reach out via the in-app chat.

Notes

Webflow's Rich Text fields don't support tables, so any tables in your article are published to Webflow as lists.