Please note: this article is geared towards a business audience. Technical documentation for Ironclad’s API is made available at https://ironclad.docs.apiary.io/#. Developers, please use that documentation.
Skip To
- Ironclad’s API
- Functionality
- Workflow Endpoints
- Records Endpoints
- Webhooks
- Getting Started
- Third-Party Tools
What is Ironclad’s API?
Ironclad has an open application programming interface (API) that provides our customers with programmatic access to the data in their Workflow and Repository. Put simply, 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 functionality does Ironclad’s API expose?
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 wanted to push a Customer Name from Ironclad to Hubspot, you would need to identify an endpoint on the Ironclad side to get Customer Name from, and then an endpoint on the Hubspot side to receive Customer Name.
Workflow Endpoints
Workflow Endpoints provide data about in-progress, canceled, and completed workflows. For example, if you wanted to use a business intelligence tool, such as Periscope or Tableau, to visualize your in-progress contracts by status and agreement type, you could 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 wanted to create a new supplier record in your vendor management system, such as Oracle or Coupa, you could 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 bit 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 wanted to post a celebratory message in Slack every time the sales team closes a deal, you could receive a webhook every time that workflow type is completed to trigger an instantaneous Slack message.
Getting Started
To get started, reach out to your Customer Success Manager to get API access enabled on your account. Once you have API access, you’ll be able to configure your API token and webhooks. Warning: Treat your tokens like passwords and keep them secret (e.g. never share a token via email, screenshot, etc.) When working with the API, use tokens as environment variables instead of hardcoding them into your programs; if you’re unclear on how to do that, talk to your company’s developer before generating a token.
Customers are responsible for building and maintaining their 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
Finally, here’s a list of helpful third-party tools our team loves for API development:
- Zapier: build complex integrations using out of the box integrations with hundreds of applications while writing minimal code (and 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 webhook. 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.
Please note: Ironclad’s API is a premium feature that is not available on all pricing plans. Please contact your Customer Success Manager to learn more about enabling it for your account.