Bigin API Essential Guide

What type of API does Bigin provide?

Bigin primarily uses REST APIs. The documentation explicitly states that Bigin provides "Build powerful integrations using Bigin's comprehensive set of REST APIs."

The key features of Bigin's REST APIs include:

1. Metadata APIs: Fetch metadata of modules, fields, layouts, custom views, and related lists.
2. Bulk APIs: Push and retrieve data from Bigin in bulk using asynchronous APIs.
3. Notification APIs: Get real-time notifications via webhook for specific updates made to Bigin modules.
4. Query APIs: Fetch records using SELECT queries (SQL syntax) from Bigin.
5. Modules API: Retrieve the list of available modules through the Get List of Modules API.

The documentation provides a sample request for the Modules API:

curl "https://www.zohoapis.com/bigin/v1/settings/modules"
-X GET
-H "Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.03xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa5317.dxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxfa"

While not specific to Bigin, it's worth noting some general characteristics of REST APIs:

1. REST uses standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to perform actions.
2. It's widely adopted due to its simplicity and scalability.
3. REST APIs are stateless and work with resources, unlike RPC which works with actions.

Does the Bigin API have webhooks?

The Bigin API does have webhooks functionality. Webhooks in Bigin allow you to send instant web notifications to third-party applications when an event occurs in Bigin. You can subscribe to events in different modules, such as closing a deal, creating new records, and updating records (though the Events module only has a New Event trigger).

When configuring a webhook, you can specify the name, description, HTTP method, URL to notify, module, module parameters, custom parameters, and user-defined parameters. Webhooks can also be associated with workflow rules for automation.

It's important to ensure you have the correct permissions and scopes set up in your Bigin account for API access. When using webhooks with third-party services like Zapier, make sure to configure the authentication correctly. Additionally, be aware of the specific modules and event types available for webhooks in your Bigin implementation.

For a comprehensive list of available event types for webhooks, it's recommended to consult the official Bigin API documentation or contact their support.

Rate Limits and other limitations

The Bigin API has several rate limits and restrictions in place. Here are the key points regarding the API rate limits:

Credit System

• API calls in Bigin are associated with credits.
• Each API call generally results in a reduction of 1 credit, but some APIs have different credit deductions.
• For example, "Get Records with cvid API" deducts 3 credits per call.
• Insert/Update API calls deduct 1 credit for every 10 records.

Credit Limits

• The API call limit has a rolling 24-hour window.
• Different editions have different credit limits:
  • Free Edition: 5,000 credits
  • Express/Zoho One/Premier Edition: 50,000 credits + (Number of User licenses x 250), with a maximum of 100,000 credits

Concurrency Limits

• Bigin uses a concurrency system to limit the number of simultaneous API calls.
• There are no time-based API call restrictions, but the number of concurrent calls is limited.
• Sub-concurrency limits apply to specific APIs, with a limit of 10 concurrent requests for those APIs across all editions.

Other Limitations

• Insert/Update API calls can be made for a maximum of 100 records per call.
• Add/Remove Tags to Multiple records API call can be made for a maximum of 500 records per call.
• For bulk read operations, only 10 download requests are allowed per minute.
• A maximum of 200,000 records can be exported in a single export job.
• For ICS file exports (Events module only), a maximum of 20,000 records per API call is supported.

Best Practices

1. Monitor your credit usage to avoid hitting limits.
2. Use bulk operations when possible to optimize credit usage.
3. Be aware of concurrency limits and design your application to work within these constraints.
4. For large data exports, use the Bulk Read APIs and implement proper error handling for rate limit errors.

By understanding and adhering to these rate limits, you can ensure your application interacts efficiently with the Bigin API without encountering unexpected restrictions.

Latest API Version

The most recent version of the Bigin API is version 2.0 (v2) [1][2][3].

Key Points to Consider:

• Bigin API v2 was announced as a major update to their API platform [1].
• The v2 API includes several new features and enhancements [3].
• The documentation for the v2 API is available on the Bigin developer portal.

New Features and Enhancements:

1. New APIs:

   • Email API: Allows managing email sending tasks [3].
   • Files API: Enables updating or downloading files associated with records [3].
   • Change Owner API: Permits changing the ownership of a record in an organization [3].
   • COQL Query API: Allows filtering and fetching specific records using SQL-like SELECT queries [3].

2. Enhanced APIs:

   • Records API: Now includes functionality for record count, upsert operations, and listing deleted records [3].
   • Search Records API: Supports additional comparators for date and date-time data types [3].
   • Related Lists API: Now supports retrieval of records associated with a specific contact from a particular Team Pipeline [3].

3. Existing APIs:

   • Rest APIs
   • Metadata APIs
   • Bulk APIs
   • Notification APIs
   • Query APIs [2]

Best Practices:

• Review the "What's new in Bigin API v2" documentation to understand the latest features and enhancements [3].
• Utilize the new APIs and enhanced functionalities to improve your integrations with Bigin.
• Consult the API Changelog for a comprehensive list of changes when upgrading from a previous version [3].
• When working with Team Pipelines, use the pipeline_id as a query parameter to retrieve specific records [3].

By leveraging these new features and enhancements in Bigin API v2, developers can create more powerful and efficient integrations with the Bigin platform.

How to get a Bigin developer account and API Keys?

To get a developer account for Bigin and create an API integration, you need to follow these steps:

1. Create a Bigin Account

• If you don't already have a Bigin account, you need to sign up for one.
• Go to developer.bigin.com to access the Bigin Developer Center.
• Create a new account by clicking on "create a new account".
• Make sure to register an account in Bigin that is set up in the US data center (DC) for building toppings, even if you have accounts in other DCs.

2. Access the Bigin Developer Center

• After creating your account, you'll receive an email to confirm your account. Check your email and confirm your account.
• Log in to your new Bigin developer account.
• Update your profile information if needed.

3. Register Your Application

• Open the API console in the Bigin Developer Center.
• Click "GET STARTED" if this is your first time registering an application, or "ADD CLIENT" if you've registered before.
• Select the appropriate client type for your application.

4. Provide Application Details

• Fill out the client details, including:
  • Client Name
  • Homepage URL
  • Authorized Redirect URIs
  • Javascript Domain (if applicable)
• Click "CREATE" to register your application.

5. Obtain API Credentials

• After registration, you'll receive your API credentials:
  • Client ID: A unique identifier for your application
  • Client Secret: A unique key to authenticate your application

6. Configure Multi-DC (Optional)

• If needed, set up multi-DC configuration to control access from different domains.

What can you do with the Bigin API?

Based on the provided search results, here's a list of data models you can interact with using the Bigin API, along with what is possible for each:

Contacts

• Insert new contact records
• Update existing contact records
• Search for contacts based on criteria (e.g., company name)
• Retrieve related records (e.g., emails) associated with a contact
• Add notes to contact records

Deals/Opportunities

• Likely supports similar operations as Contacts (insert, update, search, retrieve related records)

Campaigns

• Update related records (e.g., update a campaign associated with a contact)

Emails

• Retrieve email records related to contacts

Notes

• Add notes to records of various entities (e.g., Contacts)

General API Capabilities

• Fetch metadata of modules, fields, layouts, custom views, and related lists
• Push and retrieve data in bulk using asynchronous APIs
• Get real-time notifications via webhook for specific updates to Bigin modules
• Fetch records using SELECT queries (SQL syntax)
• Search records by email, phone, word, or custom criteria
• Retrieve converted and approved records
• Pagination support for record retrieval

Cross-Module Interactions

• Create reports and dashboards using columns from different modules
• Combine data from Bigin with other data sources for analysis

Additional Features

• Trigger workflows, approvals, or blueprints when performing API operations
• Export reports as PDF, HTML, Excel, CSV, and image files

It's important to note that while these capabilities are mentioned in the search results, the exact implementation details and available operations may vary for each data model. The Bigin API documentation should be consulted for the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on interacting with specific data models.