Right after "is there a mobile app," one of the most natural questions to ask about Aiva Chat is "do you have an API?" We don't, at least not a public, documented, versioned one that anyone can build against.
We want to explain why, because "we haven't gotten to it" is true but incomplete, and it undersells how deliberate the decision is. Publishing an API means making a promise you keep for years, to developers you've never met, about an interface you're no longer free to change.
The question usually comes from a real need: getting bookings into a CRM Aiva Chat doesn't connect to, pushing call summaries into a spreadsheet, or letting the assistant check something in the business's own system. Most of those needs are already covered another way, and it's worth being specific about which ones are and which aren't.
If you're evaluating Aiva Chat and an API is on your checklist, the table comparing webhooks, custom actions, and a public API is probably the section that answers your real question fastest.
Does Aiva Chat have a public API?
No. There's no general-purpose interface where a developer reads a documentation page and builds against Aiva Chat's data without ever talking to us.
What a public API would mean is letting an outside developer reach in and query, filter, and act on Aiva Chat's data directly, on their own schedule, however they want to shape the request. That's a meaningfully different commitment from "we can connect to your system." It's "we promise this interface will keep working, in this exact shape, indefinitely, for people we can't call when something breaks."
Aiva Chat is a no-code product for small businesses: clinics, salons, law firms, home services. Most of those businesses don't have developers, and what they need is for Aiva Chat to fit the tools they already use. That shaped where we put our effort.
So the short answer to "can Aiva Chat work with my other tools?" is usually yes. The short answer to "can my developer build anything they like on top of Aiva Chat's data?" is not yet. Knowing which of those two questions you're really asking saves a lot of time when you evaluate any tool, not just ours.
What Aiva Chat connects to today
Built-in integrations
Aiva Chat writes bookings to Google Calendar, looks up and creates contacts in HubSpot, sends Stripe payment links mid-call, takes booking deposits through Stripe Checkout in your own Stripe account, and runs on your own Twilio numbers for calls and texts. Those integrations are tested and maintained by us.
Signed webhooks
Webhooks notify an external system the moment something happens: a call ends, a lead comes in, a text arrives, an appointment is booked. Every event is signed, and the booking events cover the whole lifecycle: booked, rescheduled, cancelled, confirmed, completed, no-show, requested, accepted, declined, refunded, and paid, plus waitlist and pass events.
Automation tools via a webhook URL
Any automation tool that accepts a webhook URL, Zapier's catch hooks among them, can receive the event and pass it on to other apps, with no code and without waiting for us to build a connector. That's a webhook pointed at someone else's URL, not an integration we build or maintain.
Custom actions
Give the assistant a URL, a method, and a few inputs, and it can call your own system mid-conversation, for example to check stock or look up an order status.
How Aiva Chat connects without a public API
Step 1: Something happens in a conversation
A caller books an appointment, a lead is captured, or a call ends and its summary is ready.
Step 2: Aiva Chat sends a signed event
Aiva Chat sends a JSON request to the URL you chose, signed with your webhook's secret using an HMAC SHA-256 signature. It's the same pattern Twilio describes in its webhooks documentation: the platform tells your app when an event occurs.
Step 3: Your tool verifies and acts
The receiving tool checks the signature to confirm the request came from Aiva Chat, then does whatever you set up: add a CRM record, append a spreadsheet row, notify a team. Setup details are in the webhooks guide.
Step 4: Custom actions handle the other direction
When the assistant needs information during a call, a custom action calls your system and uses the answer in the conversation. You define exactly which URL it can call and what it sends.
Webhooks and custom actions vs. a public API
| Signed webhooks | Custom actions | Automation tool via webhooks | Public API (not offered) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direction | Aiva Chat to you, on events | Aiva Chat calls your URL mid-conversation | Aiva Chat to other apps, through the tool | You query Aiva Chat whenever you like |
| Who defines the shape | Aiva Chat's event payloads | You, per action | The tool's mapping | Aiva Chat, for every endpoint |
| Needs a developer | Sometimes, for a custom endpoint | No, configured in the dashboard | No | Yes |
| Pull arbitrary data on demand | No | No | No | Yes |
| Compatibility burden on Aiva Chat | Small and contained | Small | Small | Large and permanent |
Webhooks are the right tool when you want to react to events: keep a CRM in sync, log calls, alert someone. Custom actions are right when the assistant needs to look something up in your system mid-call.
What none of them do is let an outside developer build an arbitrary app on top of Aiva Chat's data, such as a custom dashboard that queries every conversation with its own filters. That's what a public API would add, and it's the part we're not offering yet. If that's a hard requirement, Aiva Chat may not be the right fit today, and we'd rather say so.
Why a public API is a harder promise than it sounds
It's a contract, not a feature
The moment we publish one, we've committed to versioning it, keeping backward compatibility, documenting every field, and supporting developers who hit edge cases at 11 PM on a Saturday, for integrations we can't see and didn't design.
Our data model is still changing
Internally, we can reshape how conversations, bookings, and handoffs are represented whenever we find a better structure, because we control every caller and update them together. Public, every change becomes a potential breaking change for someone else's production system, discovered by a developer whose integration silently stopped working.
Even small surfaces carry versioning costs
Consider a hypothetical: renaming the header that carries our webhook signature. Internally, trivial. But businesses build against webhooks, so a rename would need a transition window with both old and new headers working. A public API multiplies that discipline across every field and endpoint, permanently.
It's a familiar trap for small software companies: ship a public API early, then spend a disproportionate share of engineering time keeping integrations built by a handful of outside developers working, time that comes straight out of the product everyone else uses. We're not willing to make that trade yet.
The security question underneath it
Every endpoint is another door
Aiva Chat holds real customer conversations: booking details, phone numbers, and sometimes sensitive context depending on the business. Every new endpoint is something to secure, rate-limit, and audit, and every new authentication path is a new way for a credential to leak.
The risks are well documented
The OWASP API Security Top 10 exists because insecure APIs are a recurring source of real breaches. We'd rather add that surface deliberately, once, done properly, than incrementally under pressure. It's the same reasoning behind how we approach security generally: fewer doors, each one watched.
What businesses actually need, and how it's handled today
Bookings into a CRM Aiva Chat doesn't connect to
Need: A business uses a CRM without a native Aiva Chat integration.
Today: The appointment.booked and lead.created webhooks go to an automation tool's webhook URL, which creates the record in that CRM.
Gap: None, as long as your automation tool supports the CRM.
Checking stock mid-call
Need: A store wants the assistant to say whether an item is in stock. Today: A custom action calls the store's inventory URL and uses the answer. Gap: The store's system needs a URL to call.
Call summaries in a spreadsheet
Need: An owner wants every call summary in a sheet.
Today: The call.summary_ready webhook goes to an automation tool, which adds a row to the sheet.
Gap: None.
A fully custom reporting app
Need: A developer wants to build a dashboard querying all historical conversations with custom filters. Today: Not possible without a public API. The built-in analytics and "Ask your calls" cover many of the same questions. Gap: Real, and we're upfront about it.
Common mistakes when evaluating integrations
Assuming "no API" means "no integrations"
Most connection needs are event-driven, and webhooks handle them without code, directly or through an automation tool. Check what you actually need to happen before ruling a tool out.
Treating a feature-chart checkbox as proof
"Has an API" on a comparison chart says nothing about stability, versioning, or support. Ask how long old versions are supported and what happens when fields change.
Building on an undocumented interface
Reverse-engineering any product's internal endpoints is fragile. They change without notice because they were never promised to anyone.
Ignoring who maintains the connection
An automation step or a webhook endpoint someone set up years ago can break quietly. Assign an owner and check delivery logs.
What would change this
A stable data model
Our internal model needs to be stable enough that we're not reshaping it every quarter.
Dedicated engineering capacity
Supporting an API needs people assigned to it, not borrowed from whoever is free.
The parts that don't show up in a demo
A real public API needs a staging environment separate from production, sensible rate limits, documentation written before launch, and a support channel that actually answers. Shipping endpoints without that would be shipping the appearance of an API.
A smaller step first
The likeliest stepping stone is a narrow, single-partner integration, built and versioned for one counterparty, where we can work through the discipline with one relationship instead of hundreds.
A public API sits on the same list as a native mobile app: things we could technically build sooner, but wouldn't build well if we rushed them to close a feature-comparison gap.
Practical takeaways for connecting Aiva Chat now
- Start from the event. Decide what should happen when a call ends, a lead arrives, or a booking is made.
- Use built-in integrations first for Google Calendar, HubSpot, Stripe, and Twilio.
- Route everything else through webhooks.
- Verify signatures on any custom endpoint.
- Use custom actions when the assistant needs a live lookup.
- Check the delivery log after setup and occasionally after.
- Tell us what's missing, because requests shape the roadmap.
Conclusion
For most small businesses asking "do you have an API?", the real need is to get bookings, leads, or call summaries into another tool, and that works today without one.
The decision point is the one case that doesn't: if you need a developer to query Aiva Chat's historical data with custom filters, Aiva Chat isn't the right fit yet, and you should weigh that before committing. We'll build a public API once our data model settles and someone can own it full-time. Until then, we'd rather keep a smaller promise well than make a bigger one badly.
Ready to connect Aiva Chat to the tools you use?
The quickest way to settle it is to try the exact flow you need. Create a webhook for appointment.booked, point it at your own endpoint or an automation tool's webhook URL, make a test call that books a slot, and check that the row lands where you want it.
Webhooks and custom actions are on every plan, including the trial. Start your 14-day free trial, no card required, or book a demo and bring the list of systems Aiva Chat has to talk to.
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