[One Workflow] Add form_data support to kibana.request step by talboren · Pull Request #265671 · elastic/kibana

talboren · 2026-04-26T09:36:47Z

Summary

Adds form_data param to the kibana.request workflow step, enabling multipart/form-data uploads — specifically to support POST /api/saved_objects/_import (and any other Kibana API that uses --form file=@... in curl).
Fixes Content-Type: application/json being incorrectly set inside getAuthHeaders() (an auth-unrelated header); it is now set explicitly only in the JSON-body branches.
Fixes method being required in the kibana.request connector schema when the builder already defaults it to GET.

How it works

- name: import_saved_objects
  type: kibana.request
  with:
    method: POST
    path: /api/saved_objects/_import?overwrite=true
    form_data:
      file:
        content: "{{ inputs.ndjson }}"
        filename: export.ndjson
        content_type: application/ndjson

form_data is mutually exclusive with body — using both throws a clear error at runtime.

Use case

Enables hub-and-spoke dashboard sync across ECH clusters by exporting NDJSON from a source cluster and importing it into replica clusters entirely within a workflow — no external tooling required.

Made with Cursor

Adds multipart/form-data upload capability to the `kibana.request` workflow step, enabling APIs that require file uploads (e.g. POST /api/saved_objects/_import) to be called from a workflow. Changes: - kibana_action_step.ts: new form_data branch in executeKibanaRequest builds a native FormData object from the step config and passes it to fetch, letting the runtime set the correct multipart boundary Content-Type automatically. Guards against body + form_data being set simultaneously. Moves Content-Type out of getAuthHeaders() and sets it explicitly only in JSON body branches. - connector_action_schema.ts: adds form_data and query fields to the kibana.request paramsSchema so the YAML editor allows the new field. Fixes method being erroneously required when the builder defaults it. Made-with: Cursor

Copilot

Pull request overview

Note

Copilot was unable to run its full agentic suite in this review.

Adds multipart upload support to the kibana.request workflow step by introducing a form_data parameter, while also correcting header/method schema behavior.

Changes:

Make method optional in the kibana.request connector schema (builder defaults to GET).
Add form_data (multipart/form-data) and query support to kibana.request.
Stop setting Content-Type: application/json inside getAuthHeaders() and instead apply it only to JSON request paths.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
src/platform/plugins/shared/workflows_management/common/connector_action_schema.ts	Extends connector params schema to support optional `method`, `query`, and multipart `form_data`.
src/platform/plugins/shared/workflows_execution_engine/server/step/kibana_action_step.ts	Implements `form_data` handling, adjusts header construction, and builds multipart bodies for fetch requests.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

src/platform/plugins/shared/workflows_execution_engine/server/step/kibana_action_step.ts:1

The typing and field naming are inconsistent: the type shape includes request.formData, but the runtime logic uses cleanParams.form_data (snake_case) and later maps to requestConfig.formData. This makes the cast misleading and forces additional as casts later. Consider aligning types with the user-facing schema (form_data) and explicitly mapping once into an internal normalized shape (e.g., normalize to formData immediately after cleanParams) so you can avoid inaccurate type assertions.

/*

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Copilot · 2026-04-28T08:14:27Z

+        const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });
+        fd.append(fieldName, blob, spec.filename ?? fieldName);


fd.append(fieldName, blob, spec.filename ?? fieldName) always supplies a filename (defaulting to the field name). That forces every part to be treated as a “file” field (Content-Disposition includes filename), which can break APIs expecting normal text form fields. Only pass the filename argument when the user provided filename, and for non-file fields consider appending a string value (or a Blob without a filename) so they serialize as regular form fields.

Suggested change

const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });

fd.append(fieldName, blob, spec.filename ?? fieldName);

if (spec.filename !== undefined) {

const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });

fd.append(fieldName, blob, spec.filename);

} else if (typeof spec.content === 'string') {

fd.append(fieldName, spec.content);

} else {

const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });

fd.append(fieldName, blob);

}

TLDR impact: endpoint expecting a plain text form field may reject it or parse it incorrectly.
Example: request intent: send description=monthly sync (text) + file=@export.ndjson.
What current code does: always calls fd.append(name, blob, filename) so even description becomes a file part (filename="description") although it's a txt.

Copilot · 2026-04-28T08:14:27Z

+      const fd = new FormData();
+      for (const [fieldName, spec] of Object.entries(formData)) {
+        const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });


This introduces runtime dependencies on global FormData and Blob in server-side code. If the Kibana server runtime doesn’t guarantee these globals (or TS libs don’t include them in this build target), this will fail at runtime or compile-time. Prefer importing FormData/Blob from the same fetch implementation used in the server (commonly undici) or using an existing Kibana/server utility for multipart encoding to ensure consistency across supported Node versions.

Low (true check for body + form_data) so in case body is empty and form_data isn't there is no err/etc...

h88

If the intended scope is file-only form (by design) you may ignore the 1st comment related to reusable multipart support across endpoints (mixed content)
consider adding a test to guard against regressions

…step/kibana_action_step.ts Co-authored-by: Marco Liberati <dej611@users.noreply.github.com>

- Fix fd.append to only include filename when explicitly set; plain text fields are appended as strings (no Content-Disposition filename), typed blobs without a filename are appended without one. This prevents non-file fields from being treated as file parts by the server. - Extract buildFormData helper to keep makeHttpRequest complexity in check. Made-with: Cursor

kibanamachine · 2026-04-29T11:34:42Z

💚 Build Succeeded

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Commit: 22fbd13

Metrics [docs]

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Total size of all lazy-loaded chunks that will be downloaded as the user navigates the app

id	before	after	diff
`workflowsManagement`	2.3MB	2.3MB	+528.0B

History

💛 Build #435468 was flaky 1671344

kibanamachine · 2026-04-29T15:25:54Z

Starting backport for target branches: 9.4

https://github.com/elastic/kibana/actions/runs/25117834373

Aligns the http connector implementation with elastic#265671 (kibana.request) and removes the need to promote form-data from devDependencies. - http_connector.ts: build a native FormData with Blob parts and let axios serialize it and set the multipart Content-Type with the right boundary itself. Strip any user-supplied Content-Type in form_data mode so axios can set its own. - http_connector.test.ts: assert against the native FormData/Blob/File APIs (form.entries(), File.name/type/text()) instead of the form-data package's stream-based API. - package.json: revert the move; form-data stays in devDependencies. - kbn-data-forge/install_kibana_assets.ts: restore the eslint-disable-next-line for import/no-extraneous-dependencies on the form-data import (necessary again now that form-data is back in devDependencies). Made-with: Cursor

kibanamachine · 2026-04-29T15:37:09Z

💚 All backports created successfully

Status	Branch	Result
✅	9.4

Note: Successful backport PRs will be merged automatically after passing CI.

Questions ?

Please refer to the Backport tool documentation

…65671) (#266438) # Backport This will backport the following commits from `main` to `9.4`: - [[One Workflow] Add form_data support to kibana.request step (#265671)](#265671)  ### Questions ? Please refer to the [Backport tool documentation](https://github.com/sorenlouv/backport)  Co-authored-by: Tal <tal.borenstein@elastic.co> Co-authored-by: Marco Liberati <dej611@users.noreply.github.com>

talboren marked this pull request as ready for review April 26, 2026 09:37

talboren requested a review from a team as a code owner April 26, 2026 09:37

Merge branch 'main' into feat/kibana-request-form-data-support

a48a6a5

h88 requested a review from Copilot April 28, 2026 08:13

Copilot AI reviewed Apr 28, 2026

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h88 approved these changes Apr 28, 2026

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dej611 reviewed Apr 28, 2026

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Comment thread src/platform/plugins/shared/workflows_execution_engine/server/step/kibana_action_step.ts Outdated

semd mentioned this pull request Apr 28, 2026

[One Workflow] Add form_data support to http connector #266183

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5 tasks

talboren and others added 3 commits April 29, 2026 12:05

Update src/platform/plugins/shared/workflows_execution_engine/server/…

cfea90c

…step/kibana_action_step.ts Co-authored-by: Marco Liberati <dej611@users.noreply.github.com>

Merge branch 'main' into feat/kibana-request-form-data-support

1671344

talboren merged commit 37ad91d into elastic:main Apr 29, 2026
25 checks passed

kibanamachine added the v9.5.0 label Apr 29, 2026

kibanamachine mentioned this pull request Apr 29, 2026

[9.4] [One Workflow] Add form_data support to kibana.request step (#265671) #266438

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kibanamachine mentioned this pull request Apr 29, 2026

[Entity Store] Implement logs pagination in CCS #266307

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[One Workflow] Add form_data support to kibana.request step#265671

[One Workflow] Add form_data support to kibana.request step#265671
talboren merged 5 commits intoelastic:mainfrom
talboren:feat/kibana-request-form-data-support

talboren commented Apr 26, 2026 •

edited by kibanamachine

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		const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });
		fd.append(fieldName, blob, spec.filename ?? fieldName);

-        const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });
-        fd.append(fieldName, blob, spec.filename ?? fieldName);
+        if (spec.filename !== undefined) {
+          const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });
+          fd.append(fieldName, blob, spec.filename);
+        } else if (typeof spec.content === 'string') {
+          fd.append(fieldName, spec.content);
+        } else {
+          const blob = new Blob([spec.content], { type: spec.content_type ?? 'text/plain' });
+          fd.append(fieldName, blob);
+        }

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kibanamachine commented Apr 29, 2026

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