By Mo Hussein

1 min read

What Xero's API lets you do

Xero has an official API that approved apps can use to read and write accounting data. In practice, your other systems can create contacts, raise draft or approved invoices and bills, and check whether they've been paid.

For a service business, the most common use is turning finished work into invoices automatically, so nobody types the same details twice.

Draft first

We usually recommend that integrations create invoices as drafts, so someone checks them before they go out. A person stays in control of what your customers receive, and any mistake in the rules gets caught early.

Templio, a product we built for recruitment agencies, works this way. It raises the client invoice and the self-bill from approved timesheets, and sends both to Xero as drafts.

What to check before you start

  • Your chart of accounts and tax rates are set up the way you actually want them used.
  • Contacts in Xero match the customers in your other system, or you've decided which one is the source of truth.
  • Who should connect the integration, because it acts with that person's permissions.
  • What should happen when something fails, like a customer who isn't in Xero yet.

Next step

If retyping into Xero is eating your week, the project estimate will give you a rough price for connecting it, or book a discovery call and we'll look at it together.