Zoho Books API Essential Guide

What type of API does Zoho Books provide?

Zoho Books has a REST API. Here are the key points about Zoho Books' API:

API Type

Zoho Books uses a REST API. This allows developers to perform operations using standard HTTP methods and predictable URLs, making it easy to integrate with Zoho Books.

Key Features

• Built on REST principles
• Uses HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE etc.)
• Returns responses in JSON format
• Supports multiple data centers with different base URLs
• Requires authentication using OAuth tokens
• Requires an organization ID to be specified with each request

API Structure

• The base URL is https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3 (for the US data center)
• Different data centers have different base URLs (e.g. .eu, .in, .com.au etc.)
• Resources are exposed as URLs (e.g. /invoices, /contacts)
• Supports filtering, pagination and other standard REST features

Best Practices

• Use the correct base URL for your data center
• Always include the organization ID with requests
• Handle API rate limits and errors appropriately
• Use OAuth 2.0 for secure authentication

Code Example

Here's a simple example of making a GET request to retrieve organizations:

import requests

url = "https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/organizations"
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Zoho-oauthtoken 6e80xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx8a80"
}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
data = response.json()

print(data)

This REST API allows developers to integrate Zoho Books functionality into their own applications and perform operations programmatically. The API documentation provides detailed information on available endpoints, request/response formats, and authentication requirements.

Does the Zoho Books API have webhooks?

Yes, the Zoho Books API does support webhooks.

Types of events you can subscribe to

The Zoho Books API supports webhooks for various events, including:

• Subscription status changes
• Transaction events
• Invoice creation
• Payment events (e.g. payment_thankyou)
• Subscription events (e.g. subscription_created, subscription_activation)

Key points about Zoho Books webhooks:

• Webhooks allow you to receive notifications when specific events occur in your Zoho Books account.
• You can configure HTTP/HTTPS URLs to receive webhook notifications.
• Webhooks can be associated with workflow rules to automate notification processes.
• When setting up a webhook, you can specify the HTTP method, URL endpoint, additional parameters and headers, authorization method, and payload format.
• Zoho provides options to secure webhooks using a secret token.
• You can view logs of webhook executions.
• The API allows you to retrieve individual events or list multiple events.

Best practices:

• Validate incoming webhooks by verifying the signature using the secret token.
• Use the provided tools to test webhook execution before putting them into production.
• Be aware that customer details will be shared with the configured webhook URL.

In summary, the Zoho Books API offers robust webhook functionality, allowing you to subscribe to various event types and integrate real-time notifications into your applications and workflows. This enables you to build automated processes and keep external systems in sync with your Zoho Books data.

Rate Limits and other limitations

Here are the key points about the API Rate Limits for the Zoho Books API:

API Daily Rate Limit

• Organizations can make up to 2,500 API calls per day or 500 per user, whichever is lower.
• The daily limit is shared across all users and service providers accessing an organization's Zoho Books API.

Per-Minute Rate Limit

• Zoho Books can handle about 60 API calls per minute.

Plan-Specific Limits

• Free Plan: 1000 API requests/day
• Standard Plan: 2000 requests/day
• Professional Plan: 5000 requests/day
• Premium Plan: 10000 requests/day
• Elite Plan: 10000 requests/day
• Ultimate Plan: 10000 requests/day

Concurrent Rate Limiter

• Free Plan: 5 concurrent calls
• Paid Plans: 10 concurrent calls (soft limit)

Key Considerations

• If the daily limit is exceeded, data fetches may be queued for the next day or fail with fetch errors.
• To optimize API usage, it's recommended to get a maximum of 200 records per request and insert/update/delete a maximum of 100 records per request.
• The API limits use a rolling 24-hour window from the start of the call.

Best Practices

1. Monitor your API usage to avoid hitting limits unexpectedly.
2. Optimize your requests by fetching or modifying multiple records in a single call when possible.
3. Consider upgrading your plan if you consistently hit API limits.
4. Implement proper error handling to deal with rate limit errors gracefully.

By understanding and adhering to these API rate limits, you can ensure smooth integration with the Zoho Books API while avoiding disruptions due to exceeding usage thresholds.

Latest API Version

Based on the search results provided, the most recent version of the Zoho Books API appears to be version 3 (v3). Here are the key points:

1. The current API root endpoint is https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3.

2. The API documentation refers to "v3" in its URL, indicating that this is the current version.

3. There is no mention of a more recent API version in the search results provided.

Key points to consider:

• Zoho Books is hosted at multiple data centers, and there are 8 different domains for Zoho Books' APIs. Users need to use the domain applicable to their region.

• The API follows REST principles and HTTP rules, making it easy to interact with using a wide range of HTTP clients.

• Zoho provides an API collection that can be imported into Postman for testing and development purposes.

It's important to note that while v3 appears to be the most recent version based on the provided information, API versions can change over time. It's always a good practice to check the official Zoho Books API documentation for the most up-to-date information on API versions and endpoints.

How to get a Zoho Books developer account and API Keys?

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

1. Create a Zoho Account

If you don't already have one, sign up for a Zoho account at https://www.zoho.com.

2. Register Your Client Application

1. Go to the Zoho Developer Console (https://api-console.zoho.com/).
2. If it's your first time registering a client application, click "GET STARTED".
3. Choose the appropriate Client Type (e.g., Server-based, Client-based, or Mobile-based).
4. Enter a Client Name for your application.
5. Provide at least one Authorized Redirect URI (e.g., https://www.your-domain.com/callback).
6. If registering a client-based application, enter at least one JavaScript Domain.
7. Click "CREATE" to generate your client credentials.

3. Obtain API Credentials

After registering your application, you'll receive:

• Client ID
• Client Secret
• Authorized Redirect URIs

Keep these credentials secure, as you'll need them to authenticate your API requests.

4. Choose the Appropriate Data Center

Zoho Books is hosted on multiple data centers. Use the appropriate domain for your API endpoints based on your location:

• United States: https://www.zohoapis.com/books/
• Europe: https://www.zohoapis.eu/books/
• India: https://www.zohoapis.in/books/
• Australia: https://www.zohoapis.com.au/books/
• Japan: https://www.zohoapis.jp/books/
• Canada: https://www.zohoapis.ca/books/
• China: https://www.zohoapis.com.cn/books/
• Saudi Arabia: https://www.zohoapis.sa/books/

5. Obtain Organization ID

You'll need to include the organization_id parameter in every API request. To get this:

1. Use the GET /organizations API endpoint.
2. Alternatively, find it in the Zoho Books admin console under "Manage Organizations".

6. Implement OAuth 2.0 Authentication

Use OAuth 2.0 to authenticate your API requests. This involves:

1. Obtaining an authorization code
2. Exchanging the code for access and refresh tokens
3. Using the access token in your API requests

7. Start Making API Requests

With your credentials and authentication in place, you can now start making API requests to Zoho Books.

What can you do with the Zoho Books API?

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

1. Account

   • Retrieve account details
   • Create, update, and delete accounts

2. Accrual Transactions

   • Fetch accrual transaction data
   • Create and manage accrual transactions

3. Bills

   • Retrieve bill information
   • Create, update, and delete bills
   • Manage bill items

4. Budget

   • Access budget data
   • Create and update budgets
   • Manage budget details

5. Cash Transactions

   • Fetch cash transaction data
   • Create and manage cash transactions

6. Credit Notes

   • Retrieve credit note information
   • Create, update, and delete credit notes
   • Manage credit note items and refunds

7. Customers

   • Access customer data
   • Create, update, and delete customer records
   • Manage customer contact persons and payments

8. Delivery Challan

   • Retrieve delivery challan information
   • Create and manage delivery challans and their items

9. Estimates

   • Access estimate data
   • Create, update, and delete estimates
   • Manage estimate items

10. Invoices

    • Retrieve invoice information
    • Create, update, and delete invoices
    • Manage invoice items

11. Items

    • Access item data
    • Create, update, and delete items
    • Manage inventory adjustments and mappings

12. Manual Journals

    • Retrieve manual journal entries
    • Create, update, and delete manual journals
    • Manage manual journal items

13. Price Lists

    • Access price list data
    • Create and manage price lists and their items

14. Projects

    • Retrieve project information
    • Create, update, and delete projects

15. Purchase Orders

    • Access purchase order data
    • Create, update, and delete purchase orders
    • Manage purchase order items

16. Recurring Bills

    • Retrieve recurring bill information
    • Create and manage recurring bills and their items

17. Sales Orders

    • Access sales order data
    • Create, update, and delete sales orders
    • Manage sales order items

18. Taxes

    • Retrieve tax information
    • Create and manage tax records

19. Timesheets

    • Access timesheet data
    • Create and manage timesheets

20. Vendors

    • Retrieve vendor information
    • Create, update, and delete vendor records
    • Manage vendor addresses, contact persons, and payments

21. User Details

    • Access user information

For each of these data models, you can typically perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations where applicable. The Zoho Books API allows you to interact with these models in a way that mirrors the operations you can perform in the web client.

It's important to note that the API is built using REST principles, ensuring predictable URLs and following HTTP rules. This makes it easy to interact with the API using a wide range of HTTP clients.

When using the Zoho Books API, you should also be aware of the multiple data centers available and use the appropriate domain and base API URI for your region.