Integration guide for CMS

publish where your site already lives

Connect Webflow to PilotDeck

This guide walks you through linking a Webflow site to a PilotDeck site, so approved articles land in your Webflow CMS without copy and paste. It takes about five minutes. The example uses a PilotDeck site named pilotdeck-testwebsite.

In this guide

Overview : The seven steps and who performs each one
Sign in to Webflow : Log in as the site owner
Open API access : Site settings, Apps & Integrations
Generate the token : CMS read and write, Sites read-only
Open Integrations in PilotDeck : Settings, Integrations, choose Webflow
Paste the token : Pick Draft only or Publish live
Test and connect : Run Test connection, then Connect
Verify : Send a test draft and check it in Webflow
Publish modes : Draft only compared with Publish live

What connecting Webflow does

PilotDeck researches, drafts and queues content for review. A CMS connection is the last hop: once you approve a draft, PilotDeck sends it to your CMS for you. Without a connection, every article and fix waits for you to paste it in yourself.

One token, no mapping

You give PilotDeck a single Webflow Site API token. It finds your site, your CMS Collection (for example "Posts") and the matching fields on its own.

Drafts first

The default publish mode is Draft only. Items arrive in Webflow as drafts, so nothing goes live until you publish it there.

Reversible

You can disconnect at any time from the same screen. Disconnecting stops publishing right away, and you reconnect by entering a token again.

Before you start

You need	Details
A Webflow site with a CMS Collection	A blog template already includes a "Posts" collection. The free plan works for the `.webflow.io` staging site.
A Webflow login	Access to that site's settings, so you can create an API token. Webflow's bot check may ask you to press and hold a button.
A PilotDeck login	Permission to change integrations for the site. Without it the Connect button is unavailable.
Token permissions	CMS: Read and write and Sites: Read-only. CMS access alone is not enough, because PilotDeck also calls the Sites API to learn which site the token belongs to.

Treat the token like a password. Webflow shows it once. Anyone who has it can read and write that site's CMS. Never paste it into chat, tickets or screenshots. Every credential in this guide is masked.

Overview

1Sign in to WebflowYou
2Open the site's Apps & integrations settingsYou
3Generate an API token with the right permissionsYou
4Open Settings > Integrations in PilotDeck and pick WebflowYou
5Paste the token and choose a publish modeYou
6Test the connection, then connect. PilotDeck discovers the site, collection and fieldsPilotDeck
7Send a test draft and check it in WebflowVerify

Sign in to Webflow

You

Open webflow.com/dashboard/login and sign in with the account that owns the site. Use email and password, or the Google, GitHub or SSO button you normally use.

Webflow login form — The Webflow login page.

Login form with masked values — Email and password filled in. Both are masked in this screenshot.

Bot check. Webflow may first show "Confirm you're not a bot, press and hold". Complete it yourself in the browser. Automated tools should not try to get past it.

Webflow dashboard — After sign-in you land on the dashboard. Your site appears as a project card.

Open Apps & integrations

You

On the project card, open Site settings, then choose Apps & Integrations in the left menu. Scroll to the API access section near the bottom.

Site settings, Apps and Integrations — Site settings > Apps & Integrations.

Generate an API token

You

Click Generate API token. Name it something recognisable, such as PilotDeck Connector, then set the permissions:

CMS: Read and write
Sites: Read-only
Leave everything else on No access.

Generate an API token dialog — The dialog opens with every permission on "No access". Change only CMS and Sites. Tokens expire after 365 consecutive days of inactivity.

Click Generate token and copy the token straight away. Webflow does not show it again.

Copy it once. If you lose it, revoke it in the same API access list and generate a new one.

Open Integrations in PilotDeck

You

In PilotDeck, make sure the correct site is selected in the top-left site switcher (here, pilotdeck-testwebsite). Go to Settings > Integrations and find the CMS Connection card. With nothing connected it reads "No CMS connected".

CMS Connection card, nothing connected — Settings > Integrations > CMS Connection, before connecting.

Click Webflow (Site API token). A short "How to connect Webflow" panel appears next to the form.

Webflow connect form — The Webflow form: token, optional category, publish mode.

Paste the token and choose a mode

You

Paste the token into Webflow API Token. The field shows dots, so you can't read it back.
Category is optional. Webflow Collections have no built-in category field, so it only applies if your Collection has a matching one.
Pick a Publish mode. Start with Draft only (see Publish modes).

Token entered, masked — Token pasted. The field displays dots only.

Test, then connect

PilotDeck

Click Test connection first. PilotDeck checks the token against Webflow without saving anything. You should see "Looks good, credentials work."

Test connection passed — A passing test. The Connect button is next to it.

Then click Connect. PilotDeck detects the site, the collection and the field mapping. A "CMS connected." message appears, and the card turns green with an ACTIVE badge.

Webflow connected and active — Connected. Publish mode, optional category, test buttons and Disconnect are all on the card.

Verify with a test post

Verify

On the connected card, click Send test draft. PilotDeck sends a sample article to Webflow as a draft. Then open the site in the Webflow Designer, choose CMS > Posts, and look for it. Drafts show as Draft and Not Published.

Webflow CMS Posts collection — The Posts collection in the Webflow Designer. The two newest rows are PilotDeck items: one Published, one Draft.

Send test live publishes the sample for real, so use it only on a site where that is fine. Test items can be deleted in Webflow's CMS afterwards.

Done. Approved content for this site now goes to Webflow in the mode you chose.

Publish modes

Mode	What happens	When to use it
Draft only (default)	Items are created in Webflow as drafts. You publish them in Webflow when ready.	Recommended while you learn the flow, or when someone reviews on the Webflow side.
Publish live	Items are created and published, so they appear on the live site.	Once you trust the output and your review step happens in PilotDeck.

This is separate from PilotDeck's site publish mode (clone, CMS or copy) and from draft handling (review or auto). A site set to the CMS publish mode with no connected CMS is not ready to publish. Check that the Webflow card shows ACTIVE.

Disconnecting

On the connected card click Disconnect and confirm. Approved content stops publishing to Webflow right away. This cannot be undone, but you can reconnect by repeating steps 4 to 6 with a token. To fully remove access, also Revoke the token in Webflow's API access list.

Troubleshooting

"Test connection" fails

Check the token has both CMS: Read and write and Sites: Read-only. Make sure you pasted the whole token with no spaces, and that it belongs to the site you want, not another one.

Connect works but a draft fails to send

Some templates mark several Collection fields as required. PilotDeck cannot fill fields it has no content for. In Webflow, open the Collection settings and make those fields optional. The test site's blog template needed five fields changed.

Webflow shows a bot check

Webflow protects its login with "press and hold". Complete it yourself in the browser, then continue.

The item has no link back in PilotDeck

Webflow has no bookmarkable per-item address in the Designer. Draft items therefore have no live URL. Items published live get their live page address.

Token stopped working

Webflow tokens expire after 365 consecutive days of inactivity, and they stop working if revoked. Generate a new one, then disconnect and reconnect in PilotDeck.

The category is ignored

Category is best-effort. It applies only if your Collection has a field it can match.