Binding expressions

Most action inputs can take a value computed at runtime instead of one typed in when the automation was authored. That's what makes an action useful in a workflow rather than a fixed template.

A binding expression references the output of an earlier step:

${trigger.output.publishDate}

Bindings are an Umbraco Automate feature, not a ClickUp one — anywhere Automate supports them, these actions do too.

Why some fields are plain text

Several inputs that look like they should be a picker are deliberately plain text fields. Due Date and Start Date on Create task are the clearest example: they accept an ISO-8601 value such as 2026-08-01 or 2026-08-01T14:30:00, or a binding expression.

A date-picker control would only ever produce a fixed date chosen at authoring time. Plain text lets a workflow source the value from whatever triggered it — setting a ClickUp task's due date from the publish date of the content item that started the automation, for instance. The trade-off is that the value isn't validated until the step runs, at which point an unparseable date fails with a Validation error (see Error handling).

The same reasoning applies to ID fields such as List ID and Parent Task ID — a workflow can resolve them dynamically rather than hard-coding one List.

Time of day is inferred

For date inputs, whether the value is treated as time-specific is derived from the value itself, not from a separate setting. If the date you supply includes a time other than midnight, ClickUp treats it as time-specific; otherwise it's a date-only value. There is no "include time" toggle to configure, which means a binding that yields a full timestamp behaves correctly without any extra step configuration.

Comma-separated inputs

Fields that accept several values — Assignees, Tags — take a comma-separated string (12345,67890). A binding that produces an already-joined string works directly; if an earlier step produces a collection, join it before passing it in.