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Ironclad's Public API Overview

Ariana Kemp
  • Updated

This topic will provide you with an overview of Ironclad's public API.

This article is geared towards a business audience. Technical documentation for Ironclad’s API is made available at https://developer.ironcladapp.com. Developers, please use that documentation.

To get started with Ironclad’s API, reach out to your Customer Success Manager to get API access enabled on your account.


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What is Ironclad’s API?

Ironclad has an open application programming interface (API) that provides you with programmatic access to the data in your Workflow and Repository. Simply put, our API allows you to ask Ironclad for data about your contracts and receive it back in a structured format. The API is commonly used for bulk exporting data and integrating Ironclad with other third-party systems.

 

What is Ironclad’s API Main Functionality?

Ironclad’s API currently consists of three main sets of functionality: workflow endpoints, records endpoints, and webhooks. An endpoint is one end of a communication channel. For example, if you want to push a customer name from Ironclad to Hubspot, you must identify an endpoint on the Ironclad side to get the customer name from, and then an endpoint on the Hubspot side to receive the customer name.

Workflow Endpoints

Workflow endpoints provide data about in-progress, canceled, and completed workflows. For example, if you want to use a business intelligence tool, such as Periscope or Tableau, to visualize your in-progress contracts by status and agreement type, you can perform an hourly query on in-progress workflows to produce real-time analytics.

Records Endpoints

Record endpoints provide data about completed contracts that are stored in your Ironclad Repository. For example, if you want to create a new supplier record in your vendor management system, such as Oracle or Coupa, you can query the Repository nightly to make sure that you are creating an entry in your vendor management system for every completed supplier agreement.

Webhooks

Webhooks are a different from endpoints. Instead of being a tool to access information, they are a tool for Ironclad to say “Hey, I have new information for you!”. For example, if you want to post a celebratory message in Slack every time the sales team closes a deal, you can receive a webhook every time that workflow type is completed to trigger an instantaneous Slack message.

 

Get Started with Ironclad’s API

To get started with Ironclad’s API, reach out to your Customer Success Manager to get API access enabled on your account. Once you have API access, you can configure your API tokens and webhooks.

Warning: Treat your tokens like passwords and keep them secret. Never share a token via email, screenshot, etc. When you work with the API, use tokens as environment variables instead of hardcoding them into your programs. If you’re unsure on how to do that, talk to your company’s developer before generating a token.

You are responsible for building and maintaining your own API integrations. However, we’re always eager to brainstorm how to take advantage of our API and consult on best practices. If you’re interested in sharing API development best practices with Ironclad, reach out to your Customer Success Manager to schedule an API consulting call with our Legal Engineering team.

 

Third-Party Tools

The following list contains helpful third-party tools our team recommends for API development:

  • Zapier: Build complex integrations using out-of-the-box integrations with hundreds of applications while writing minimal code. There is no need to set up infrastructure.
  • Postman: Rapidly test API queries and inspect responses.
  • Google Cloud Functions: Write simple, self-contained programs that can be triggered via webhooks. Enjoy the flexibility of your favorite programming tools, like Node.js or Python, without having to stand up a server.
  • Retool: Easily build internal company tools with clean user interfaces and sync data to and from other internal databases.

 

 

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