CI help to automate using the gitlab api

Hi, I am fairly new to CI and having some issues.

Basically I want my pipeline to build my code and package the dependencies and put it all in a folder (I have succeeded at this). Then I want to zip it up and using the API upload the file to gitlab, and add a link to the .zip in the release, again using the api.

I have manually done these steps successfully but having issues doing it with the .yml file.

My biggest area where I am having a hard time is saving the output from the POST request which tells me the url to the uploaded file. I need that output to then construct my next POST request to create the release with the link.

My runner is on a windows OS and i have successfully been able to call curl as well

Any help is appreciated!
-Mr Shawn