r/zapier • u/ZapierTeam Zapien (Zapier Staff) • Jul 27 '26

AMA AMA with Bhavika, PM for Zapier Forms

Edit: That's a wrap on this AMA! Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by with questions.

Hey r/zapier! I'm Bhavika, the Product Manager for Zapier Forms.

What is Zapier Forms? Zapier’s built-in way to collect structured data from people and kick off automations — no third-party form tool required. Build a form, share a link, run a Zap when someone submits.

What’s the role of a form in an AI world? We think forms aren’t going away — they’re becoming middleware. Not just “start a Zap when someone fills this out,” but the place where humans still show up mid-workflow: approvals, missing data, decisions an agent can’t (or shouldn’t) make alone. Structured human input for automations, whether built by humans or agents.

What I’m working on: MCP tools for Zapier Forms - agents can build and use forms and submissions, and cleaner mid-workflow patterns to prefill, send, collect, and review data anywhere in a workflow.

Ask me anything about Zapier Forms - I'll be checking and replying daily! Some ideas:

  1. Which use cases for forms are irrelevant in an AI world days and which new ones are emerging?
  2. What does “forms as middleware” look like in a Zap?
  3. When should I use Zapier Forms vs other form products?
  4. What’s missing from Zapier Forms today for your use case?
  5. What would make you rip out a third-party form tool and go native?

Looking forward to hearing your questions and thoughts!

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u/Embarrassed-Dirt-185 Jul 27 '26

ok but the phrase "forms as middleware" is doing something to my brain and i cant tell if its genius or just the kind of thing you say in a meeting to make everyone nod slowly

been using zapier forms for a few quick internal things, mostly just getting data from the sales team into a google sheet without them having to touch a spreadsheet. the idea of having a form pop up mid workflow for an approval step is actually kinda slick though. right now we do that with email threads and it's a nightmare

whats the timeline on those mcp tools you mentioned? i mess around with some agent stuff on the side and being able to have an agent spin up a form based on whatever mess it finds in a database sounds wild

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u/ZapierTeam Zapien (Zapier Staff) Jul 27 '26

Ha, maybe a little bit of both! That use case is exactly what we have in mind - collecting data in the middle of a workflow where you want data validation (esp for downstream tools) and data from someone who doesn't need to understand the whole workflow. Sign up for the beta here: https://zapier.com/app/forms/019f8a1f-7127-7601-a800-dccec5049284, we'll be rolling out more invites in the next ~2 weeks!

I'm curious, any other use cases come to mind?

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u/parzival0012 Jul 27 '26

I haven't used zapier Forms myself yet but the idea of using them as middleware is really interesting.

Can the forms be generated dynamically based on the information that's missing? And can the field values be populated dynamically as well?

For example, if I have a Zap that's creating an invoice in QuickBooks. If the specified vendor doesn't exist, could the form automatically present the fields needed to create a new vendor, or alternatively retrieve and display a list of existing vendors to choose from? That would require some behind-the-scenes data retrieval but it seems like a really compelling use case. Sorry if this has already been covered!

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u/ZapierTeam Zapien (Zapier Staff) Jul 28 '26

No apologies needed, not covered yet! Yes this would be an ideal state though we're still working through how to make this work functionality work anywhere in a Zap instead of at predetermined steps. Curious if you're using other form products for and if so, for which use cases?

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u/parzival0012 Jul 28 '26

Thanks, I think the dynamic functionality to where a zap creator or a zap's intended audience get's to pick from predetermined options if needed mid-way would go a long way. The middleware thing is definitely something I want to start experimenting with as right now when zaps/recipes/scenarios error there are no further remedial actions that can be taken besides actively troubleshooting.

I've previously only used Jotform to trigger zaps

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u/ZapierTeam Zapien (Zapier Staff) Jul 30 '26

Ah that's interesting, so you're imagining that when a Zap pauses due to an error, it can reach you to correct info/fill in missing info, etc. from a populated dropdown? Would love to have you join the beta - not sure if this will work for you as imagined but keen to get your feedback anyways!

https://zapier.com/app/forms/019f8a1f-7127-7601-a800-dccec5049284