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Valentine's Day: Bruno Turns Last-Minute Panic Into Future Dinner Plans

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Today, on Valentine’s Day ❤️, I found myself in that all-too-familiar situation—scrambling at the last minute, stressed about creating the perfect plan.

I started thinking about how I could leverage APIs to send thoughtful gifts 🎁, but options are pretty limited. Then it hit me: while I might have failed today, we may have found a solution for future dinner outings.

That’s when Bruno—my trusty API sidekick—came into play. 🐶

I decided to harness the power of the Yelp Fusion API and Nylas to solve my dinner dilemmas. With Bruno handling the heavy lifting, I built an automated workflow that fetches top-rated restaurants, stores their details as environment variables, and then drives a beautifully(?) formatted email with clickable reservation options. And here’s the best part: even on a hectic day like Valentine’s, I can now effortlessly send out an email with my top dinner suggestions.

Here's a public Github repo with the collection and feel free to submit a PR to improve anything. 

Getting Started: API Keys and Setting Up

Before any automation can occur, you need to secure your API keys🔒. Here’s how I got started:

Yelp Fusion API

  1. Sign Up: Visit Yelp Fusion and create an account.
  2. Create an App: Fill in the required details and generate your API key and Client ID. 

    yelp dashboard
  3. Secure Your Key: Store the key safely—this key authenticates all your Yelp requests.

Nylas API

  1. Register an Account: Sign up at Nylas and get your developer credentials.
  2. Create an Application: In your dashboard, create a new app to receive your API key (and secret). You also need to generate a Grant by selecting that menu in the dashboard.

    nylas dashboard
  3. Keep It Secure: Store your Nylas key securely—it’s essential for sending emails from Bruno.

Bruno in Action: Automating Dinner Reservations

Step 1: Clone the Github Repo

Clone the Github repo for this collection. You can do so using the CLI, or directly through Bruno's import options if you have a commercial license. 

 import options

 

Step 2: Setup Your Environments

The collection contains an Environment Restaurant Res, but you will need to enter values for the following variables:

  • Email: the email address you want the list to be sent to
  • yelpAPIkey: your Yelp Fusion API key
  • nylasAPIkey: your Nylas API key
  • grantid: Your Nylas Grant value which will be used as a parameter

environment settings 

Step 3: Modify the Yelp Request Based on Your Preference

The Yelp Fusion API allows you to pass a huge selection of Query Params . Below are the ones that I used: 

query params

This example fetches the top 5 restaurants where I live that have reservations next week at 9PM, sorted by distance because I am lazy and don't want to drive 🚗. 

Send the request and verify you're getting 5 restaurants:

 

Step 4: Use the Restaurant Results Response to Set Environment Variables

We will use the restaurants received in the response to pass into our email. In order to do this, we have to write a small script to extract the URL for each restaurant and store them as individual environment variables. Here’s the code I used:


// Parse the JSON response from Yelp
const responseData = bru.response.json();
const businesses = responseData.businesses;

// For the first 5 restaurants, store each URL in a separate environment variable.
for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
  const url = (businesses[i] && businesses[i].url) ? businesses[i].url : "";
  bru.setEnvVar("restaurantUrl" + (i + 1), url);
}

This script ensures that I have five distinct variables—restaurantUrl1 through restaurantUrl5—each containing a link to a restaurant option.

Run the request again, and inspect your variables. You should see there was one created for each restaurant:

 

Step 5: Crafting a Hyperlinked Email with Nylas

Next, I wanted to deliver these options in a sleek, clickable format. Leveraging Nylas, I built an HTML email that pulls in the environment variables.

{
  "subject": "Options for our date",
  "body": "<html><body>Hi Love,<br><br>Here are five options for next Saturday:<br><br><a href=''>Option 1</a><br><a href=''>Option 2</a><br><a href=''>Option 3</a><br><a href=''>Option 4</a><br><a href=''>Option 5</a><br><br>Let me know which one you prefer!<br><br>Yours,<br>Deadpool</body></html>",
  "to": [
    {
      "name": "myfriend",
      "email": ""
    }
  ]
}    

Each hyperlinked “Option” pulls its URL from the corresponding environment variable. This neat format allows you to easily explore dinner choices with just a click.

Here's what the email itself looks like:

 

 

Step 6: (Optional) Run with Collection Runner

You can run both of these requests using Bruno's Collection Runner - either in the GUI or through the CLI.

This could very easily be automated to run every week, month, or even annually the week before Valentine's Day :). 

 

Why This Matters

By combining the Yelp Fusion API with Nylas—and orchestrating it all through Bruno—I transformed what used to be a frantic, last-minute scramble into a smooth, automated process. Every week, without any manual effort, I receive a beautifully formatted email with top dinner picks, letting me finally relax and enjoy the anticipation of a great meal.

If you’re tired of planning under pressure or simply want to explore how API automation can simplify your life, I highly recommend giving this approach a try. With the right tools—and a trusty sidekick like Bruno—you can turn everyday challenges into elegantly solved problems.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Here’s to a day filled with love, stress-free planning, and delicious dinners ahead!