Housecall Pro API Essential Guide

What type of API does Housecall Pro provide?

API Type

Housecall Pro primarily uses a REST API for its integration and data access capabilities.

Key Points

• REST (Representational State Transfer) is a widely used architectural style for designing networked applications.
• REST APIs typically use HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to perform operations on resources.
• Housecall Pro's REST API allows developers to integrate the platform's functionality into their own applications or services.

API Features

Housecall Pro's REST API offers the following capabilities:

• Access to customer data
• Management of jobs and schedules
• Handling of invoices and estimates
• Integration with other business tools and software

Best Practices

When working with Housecall Pro's REST API, it's recommended to:

1. Authenticate properly using the provided API keys or tokens.
2. Follow the API documentation closely for correct endpoint usage and data formatting.
3. Implement proper error handling to manage API responses effectively.
4. Use appropriate HTTP methods for different operations (e.g., GET for retrieving data, POST for creating new resources).

Does the Housecall Pro API have webhooks?

Webhooks Availability

Yes, the official Housecall Pro API does have webhooks.

Types of Events

Housecall Pro offers a wide range of events that you can subscribe to using webhooks. Here's a list of the available events:

• Customer events:

  • customer created
  • customer deleted
  • customer updated

• Estimate events:

  • estimate completed
  • estimate copied to job
  • estimate created
  • estimate on my way
  • estimate option approval status changed
  • estimate scheduled
  • estimate sent

• Job events:

  • job canceled
  • job completed
  • job created
  • job deleted
  • job on my way
  • job paid
  • job scheduled
  • job started

• Lead events:

  • lead created
  • lead deleted
  • lead converted
  • lead lost
  • lead updated

• Other events:

  • pro created

Key Points to Consider

1. Webhooks are only available to users on the MAX plan of Housecall Pro.

2. To use webhooks, you need to enable them in your Housecall Pro account and provide a webhook URL where you want to receive the events.

3. When setting up webhooks, Housecall Pro will provide you with a signing secret, which is likely used for verifying the authenticity of webhook payloads.

4. Housecall Pro's webhooks can be integrated with Zapier, allowing you to create automated workflows without needing to hire a developer.

5. For developers working with the webhooks, Housecall Pro recommends consulting their documentation or working with a developer familiar with webhook implementations.

Best Practices

1. When setting up webhooks, make sure to only subscribe to the events you actually need to minimize unnecessary data transfer and processing.

2. If you're using Zapier integration, ensure you have recent examples of the events you're subscribing to in your Housecall Pro account for testing purposes.

3. Always verify the authenticity of webhook payloads using the provided signing secret to ensure the security of your integration.

4. Consider implementing error handling and retry mechanisms in your webhook receiver to deal with potential delivery issues or temporary outages.

By leveraging these webhooks, you can create real-time integrations and automate workflows based on various events occurring within your Housecall Pro account.

Rate Limits and other limitations

Based on the search results provided, there is no specific information about the API rate limits for the Housecall Pro API. However, I can provide some general information and context:

API Rate Limits

The search results do not explicitly mention any rate limits for the Housecall Pro API. However, it's common for APIs to have rate limits to prevent abuse and ensure fair usage.

Key Points to Consider

1. Default Rate Limit: In the absence of specific information, it's mentioned that Agave's default rate limit of 150 requests per minute per account token could be applied.

2. API Documentation: Housecall Pro has API documentation available at https://docs.housecallpro.com/, which may contain more detailed information about rate limits.

3. Developer Access: API access is only available to Pros on a MAX plan. If you're interested in using the API, you may need to be on this plan.

4. Custom Integrations: The API allows for creating custom integrations with Housecall Pro, but due to its technical nature, you may need to hire a skilled developer.

Best Practices

1. Check Official Documentation: For the most accurate and up-to-date information on rate limits, it's best to refer to the official Housecall Pro API documentation.

2. Contact Support: If you can't find specific information about rate limits in the documentation, consider reaching out to Housecall Pro's support team for clarification.

3. Implement Backoff Strategy: When working with APIs, it's generally a good practice to implement an exponential backoff strategy to handle potential rate limiting issues.

4. Monitor Usage: Keep track of your API usage to ensure you're not approaching any undocumented limits.

In conclusion, while the search results don't provide specific rate limit information for the Housecall Pro API, it's important to consult the official documentation and potentially reach out to their support team for the most accurate information. Implementing best practices for API usage, such as backoff strategies and usage monitoring, can help ensure smooth integration with the Housecall Pro API.

Latest API Version

Based on the search results provided, I can answer your question about the most recent version of the Housecall Pro API.

The most recent version of the Housecall Pro API is the Housecall v1 API [5].

Key points to consider:

• Housecall Pro offers a Public API for developers to create custom integrations [2][3].
• The API is only available to users on the MAX plan [3][4].
• To use the API, you need to generate an API key, which can only be done by Admin users [3].

Best practices:

1. Before starting any integration project, review the available APIs in the open API documentation at https://docs.housecallpro.com/ [4].

2. Ensure that you have the necessary API calls available for your intended automation tasks [4].

3. If you're not a developer, consider hiring a skilled and trusted developer to work with the API, as they will have access to your account information [4].

4. For those not wanting to hire a developer, user-friendly automation tools like Make, Zapier, and Pabbly Connect can be used to create some API automations, though Housecall Pro doesn't provide support for setting up these integrations [4].

5. Always keep your API key secure and only share it with trusted developers [3].

Remember that while the API offers powerful integration capabilities, Housecall Pro cannot build or maintain custom integrations created via API keys [3]. It's important to work with a skilled developer you trust when utilizing the API.

How to get a Housecall Pro developer account and API Keys?

1. Sign up for a Housecall Pro MAX plan

API access is only available to Pros on the MAX plan.

2. Generate an API Key

1. Sign into your Housecall Pro account and go to your app store. Only Admin users can generate API Keys.

2. Find the API app card and click "Learn More".

3. On the right-hand side, click "Generate API Key".

4. Name your API Key. This helps you keep track of what project you are working on or who you are granting this API key to.

5. Copy the API key and send it to your developer.

3. Hire a Developer

Since Housecall Pro doesn't provide dedicated support for API requests, you'll need to hire a skilled developer to create your custom integration. Here are some options for finding a developer:

• Upwork
• Toptal
• Guru
• Freelancer
• PeoplePerHour
• Truelancer

4. Share API Documentation

Once you've hired a developer, share Housecall Pro's public API Documentation with them. The documentation can be found at https://docs.housecallpro.com/.

What can you do with the Housecall Pro API?

Based on the provided information, here's an overview of the data models you can interact with using the Housecall Pro API:

Customer Management

• Customers

  • Read and write access
  • Allows you to manage customer information

• Leads

  • Read and write access
  • Available via passthrough requests
  • Enables you to handle potential customer data

Financials Management

• Employees

  • Read and write access
  • Available via passthrough requests
  • Allows management of employee information

• Estimates

  • Read and write access
  • Enables creation and retrieval of job estimates

Project Management

• Jobs

  • Read and write access
  • Allows management of job details, including status, description, and scheduling

• Vendors (Companies)

  • Read and write access
  • Available via passthrough requests
  • Enables management of vendor information

Additional Features

• Passthrough Requests
  • Allows access to more Housecall Pro endpoints without a unified model
  • Provides flexibility to interact with additional data models not explicitly listed

Key Points to Consider

• The API provides both unified data models and access to source data, giving you flexibility in how you interact with the information.

• Passthrough requests allow you to access additional endpoints and data models that may not be explicitly listed in the unified models.

• The API supports both read and write operations for most data models, enabling comprehensive management of Housecall Pro data.

• Authentication is required to access the API, typically using headers such as API-Version, Client-Id, Client-Secret, and Account-Token.

Best Practices

• Use the unified data models when possible for consistency across different integrations.

• Leverage passthrough requests for accessing additional endpoints or when you need more specific control over the data.

• Always handle authentication securely and avoid exposing sensitive information like client secrets.

• When making requests, ensure you're using the correct account token to access the intended Housecall Pro account.

• Familiarize yourself with the specific endpoints and data structures for each model to ensure efficient and accurate data management.