Accelo API Now in Beta

This is another one in the Most Requested Features category, and today we've got exciting news: the Accelo API is now in Public Beta! This RESTfully driven, HTTPS+OAuth2-secured, JSON/XML/YAML-friendly platform has been a number of months in development, and we're really excited to see what some of the noted hackers using Accelo do with it!

What can you do?

We've built the beta version of the API to give you read and write access to most of the objects in Accelo. Here's a list of the endpoints we have available at launch:

• companies/clients - search, list, view, create, update and delete
• contacts - search, list, view, create, update and delete
• addresses - search, list and view
• projects - search, list, view, create, update and delete
• workflow - search, list and view
• components - search, list, view, create, update and delete
• issues - search, list, view, create, update and delete
• users - search, list, view, create, update and delete
• budget - search, list and view
• rates - search, list and view

In terms of working with the API, you'll be able to request data to be returned in JSON, XML and YAML format, so you can choose what makes sense for your environment and use case. For maximum ease of use, the POSTing of data for update functions (where supported) is via simple name=value payloads, so hacking away couldn't be simpler! You can even specify a DELETE via a GET in case your toolkit doesn't recognise the DELETE verb.

The API is authenticated via OAuth2 for both ease of development and data security, and of course all of the payload traffic is via fully encrypted HTTPS - we insist.

Speaking of users and authentication, we're supporting three different application types at launch:

• installed applications - great for desktop and mobile apps tied to an Accelo user's account. Whenever you use the API using this security model you'll be inheriting all the permissions of the user in question.
• web applications - great to connect your web application to Accelo so you can do things on behalf of our shared users.
• service applications category which will allow for things like synchronization across the whole platform (and is well suited to automatic or back-office integration jobs or even putting a form on your website to submit information through to Accelo like new client enquiries).

What's around the corner?

We're not stopping here, of course. In the next couple of months, we'll be releasing another major upgrade to the Accelo API which will roll in at least three other really important objects not currently accessible to the API:

• activities and time logs - this is going to be a big one - this is where notes, meetings, work logs, time entries and more are stored. We're actually in the middle of a major upgrade to the back-end and structures we use for storing activities, so we wanted to wait until we had that in place before opening the API up. When we get this one live, we're looking forward to seeing what developers do with mobile apps for logging time, reporting front ends to work summaries and more!
• tasks - another big one, the ability to create tasks, complete tasks and re-estimate time is going to open up a lot of exciting opportunities for integrations and synchronizations.
• emails - as you probably know, Accelo can be configured to automatically capture emails between users and their clients. This river of shared, valuable client data is like a Twitter firehose specific to your business, and we're excited to see what developers come up with as ways to visualize, showcase and expose this valuable information. It is also worth noting that users of the free Sync version of Accelo will have this API available to them, so if you've ever wanted to create an app or web service that shows all of the client emails coming and going in a business in real time, this will be your chance!

Another thing worth mentioning is that we are working on a major upgrade to the Projects module in Q2, which will have implications for the API; while it is of course a versioned API, we'll be introducing new powerful project features so if you're wanting to do some hard core project hacking, we'd like to work with you so you can tread carefully.

How can you get into it?

Because we're a small team of hackers ourselves, we want to make sure you have a great experience using our new API. Rather than just throw it over the fence and leave you to work it out (at least initially), we want to connect with you and talk about what you have in mind. At this early stage, we believe that working together and getting your feedback and suggestions on how to make the API better is critical to making this important initiative succeed.

In order to get access, head to the Admin Settings section (the wrench/spanner in the top nav - only accessible if you're an administrator). Then scroll to the bottom and click on Register for the BETA.

To help our team help you, we're asking you to tell us what you have in mind for your project. We'll then get back to you as soon as we can to talk further and share next steps, documentation and more.