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Inconsistent JSON Output from Clay Table APIs: Need Guidance | Clay

Inconsistent JSON Output from Clay Table APIs: Need Guidance

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Hi Team, I am having an issue with my Clay table, can someone please take a look? Workspace/Table: https://app.clay.com/workspaces/542459/workbooks/wb_0szjcdiYiXyviEFZJqD/tables/t_0szji6wDejRxCCye8Rw/views/gv_0szji6wwfu6ycrh2Zwe Columns involved:

Hubspot Lead Creation API → returns the entire JSON wrapped in a single value field (desired).
Update Sureconnect HTTP API → returns individual key/value fields (problematic).

Configuration (both columns):

Field Paths to Return / Response values to return: empty for both columns.

Expected behavior (per docs/support guidance):

When “Field Paths to Return” is empty, Clay should return the entire JSON as a single value field.
When specific field paths are listed, Clay should return only those fields expanded.

Actual behavior:

Despite the setting being empty in both columns, one column returns value (desired), while the other expands all fields. This inconsistency is causing downstream JSON parsing issues.

Impact:

I forward Clay outputs through a Make.com webhook to my server. The differing shapes ({ "value": "<json>" } vs expanded fields) break parsing and require special casing.

Steps to reproduce:

1.
Open the table (link above).
2.
Compare outputs from Hubspot Lead Creation API and Update Sureconnect HTTP API columns.
3.
Note that both have “Response values to return” empty, but their outputs differ as described.

What I need:

Confirmation whether this is a bug or if there is another setting that controls whether the response is wrapped in value vs expanded (e.g., a column-level toggle, response handling, content-type expectation, etc.).
Guidance on how to force both columns to consistently return the full response in a single value field.

Contact: murugan@zams.com Optional example (shape only):

Desired: { "value": "{...full JSON string...}" }
Current (problematic): { "company": "...", "domain": "...", ... }

11 comments

Clay
APP
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The "Field Paths to Return" setting controls response formatting in HTTP API columns. When empty, it should return the full API response, but different integrations may handle this differently. The inconsistency you're experiencing between HubSpot and SureConnect columns suggests different response handling behaviors between native integrations and HTTP API calls. To troubleshoot this JSON formatting issue, please copy and paste the actual JSON responses from both columns so we can analyze the specific formatting differences and provide targeted guidance.
Sources: HTTP API with Clay HTTP API with JWT Authentication with Clay HTTP API with JWT authentication | Documentation | Clay University HTTP API integration overview | Documentation | Clay University
Murugan D.
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https://app.clay.com/workspaces/542459/workbooks/wb_0szjcdiYiXyviEFZJqD/tables/t_0szji6wDejRxCCye8Rw/views/gv_0szji6wwfu6ycrh2Zwe
Suhaib S.
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Murugan D. This happens sometimes when Clay handles responses differently depending on how the API sends data. you can use a small script to wrap both in the same format.
Murugan D.
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how do i do that?
Suhaib S.
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Murugan D. You can use Clay’s “Get Full Response” toggle in the API column settings that ensures the full JSON is wrapped in a single value field.
Murugan D.
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can you show me where tha tis?
Suhaib S.
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the “Response values to return” field is empty (as it should be). If it’s still expanding, it’s likely a Clay bug. Try duplicating the column
Murugan D.
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i already tried duplicating, but that didn't work for me either
Murugan D.
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is this a bug on Clay's end?
Suhaib S.
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Most likely a bug best to report it to Clay support.
Bo (.
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Looking at these logs, I can see the core issue - you have "CLAYFORMATVALUE(undefined)" and "CLAYFORMATVALUE()" appearing in your HTTP API payloads instead of clean null values or empty strings.
This happens when Clay columns reference empty or undefined values. The "CLAYFORMATVALUE" wrapper appears when Clay tries to format null/undefined data for API calls.
Here's how to clean this up: Step 1: Add Formula Columns to Clean the Data Before your HTTP API column, add Formula columns that handle these undefined values: LBKSif (/your_column === null || /your_column === undefined || /your_column === "") { return null; } else { return /your_column; }LBKSStep 2: Alternative - Use Conditional Logic in Your HTTP Body In your HTTP API column body, you can reference the cleaned columns instead of the raw ones: LBKS{ "sureconnect_contact1_full_name": /cleaned_contact1_name, "contact1_linkedin": /cleaned_contact1_linkedin, "contact1_email": /cleaned_contact1_email }LBKSStep 3: Enable "Remove Null Values" Setting I see you already have removeNull: true in your configuration, which should help eliminate null fields from the final payload.
Step 4: Check Column References Make sure you're referencing columns that actually contain data. If those contact2 and contact3 columns are consistently empty, consider using conditional logic to only include them when they have actual values.
This will eliminate those "CLAYFORMATVALUE" artifacts and give you clean JSON payloads for your Make.com webhook.
Let me know if you have more questions.