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Wave Developer API
StephenG
Member Posts: 1
Feature
Create a Wave API as a service. Allow developers access to an API to be able to use Wave's features in separate applications.
Description
As an application developer I want to build an app that could use some Estimate/Invoice/Payment features. Instead of building all of that out myself it would be nice if I could call Wave APIs to handle that so I can focus on the actual niche problem my application solves and release faster. Wave will still be able to handle all the payment processing to make money, my application has a richer feature set with less code to maintain and users get to enjoy a full-featured application.
Tagged:
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Comments
Hi @StephenG thanks for posting!
I'm curious to know more about the kind of apps you would like to see and build. We may not have an API available yet, but we do want to know the kind of projects our users would like to create if they had access to one.
I can think of several uses for an API and I may elaborate in a later post, but for starters maybe someone would like to create a POS app/extension that handles inventory and blah blah and at the end reports back some financials to wave to have the business owner have a quick glance of the business' finances.
This my actual "use case". I use an external POS application for a small store and I capture sales and expenses in Wave. The POS handles a hundred transactions a day but in Wave, I capture daily sales as a lump sum (the detail is kept in the other app)
Hi @hgomezc, thank you for adding your voice to this discussion! This is exactly the kind of real-world application we like to see in these feature discussions.
Sure! As a developer myself, I know the frustration I've had working with APIs that were not providing enough information or functionality to be useful to my needs and hitting a dead-end.
Here's my use case: we're a nonprofit press. When an author/poet accepts a publication offer, the signed contract triggers a call to our web service, then we use the QuickBooks Online API to create a bill for the contracted amount.
I want do to that with Wave instead!
Also, we use the QBO API to scan for bills that are due in the next 10 days and determine the requested payment method (which we currently figure out based on whether the author provided an email address or a physical address). We use the results to generate PayPal Mass Payment or Checkbook.io paper check requests.
I want to do that with Wave, too!
So, those are the two high-level features I am hoping for (and VERY willing to help test): Create a new bill [and vendor if the author doesn't already exist as a vendor] and query a list of bills by status and due date.
Hi @BorisNikolaevich.
Thank you for adding to the conversation! Those are some really compelling ideas to read about ways to use an API to better automate your various workflows!
We would like to start with - Automated local corporate tax forms for signing and printing or electronic submission to Inland Revenue.
Also we would read our customers invoices and balances via the API so we can create a simple customer dashboard on our website. Customers can then view old invoices and so without us having to resend them, keeping the professional look from WaveApps epic platform. If a customer pays using a local payments service provider on our website (as Waveapps does not process payments from Trinidad), through the API we can update our Waves invoice and mark as paid. Their dashboard should then read an updated payment and receipt.
We're very excited for this API. Are there any timelines?
Hi @IA_SD.
Offering a public API isn't on our roadmap at this time, however, it is something we've been thinking about a lot.
Seeing how enthusiastic some of our users are over different feature ideas absolutely has an impact on how we'll choose what to build next for Wave, so thank you for sharing!
Gotta say, I'm a little bit crushed Wave doesn't have an API. Despite this I signed up anyway to test the software & hope an API gets developed sometime soon.
We need our Invoicing/Accounting service to connect with our CRM & Email marketing software. In this way, we can manage client relationships within our CRM without jumping between siloed platforms. As it stands, we'd have to manually update our CRM every time a change is made in Wave?
With an API, there's potential to connect Wave to PieSync, and sync contacts between Hubspot CRM & ConvertFox (Email Marketing). For instance, if a client pays a recurring subscription for 6 months in Wave > a tag gets added to the client profile in Hubspot CRM > which moves the client to a different marketing segment in ConvertFox & triggers an automated email with an exclusive offer for loyalty rewards.
In this way, we needn't get a Zoho One subscription to handle our workflow end-to-end, which seems to offer similar capabilities to Wave.
Thank you, @MAGI, for adding your voice to this. This is valuable insight and I'll make sure it's forwarded to the right people.
I work in a non-profit organization and we have our system that manages our members' info, but we would like to integrate that info to a system that manages accounting and financials, to manage membership payments and expenses easily.
Here's our use case:
We're a small dance studio who manages all of our invoicing with wave - I would like an API so that I can connect our customers, products, and invoices with our CRM keeping them in sync.
Having to maintain multiple customer records is tedious, especially in a high turn over market like the one that we are in, where customers come and go month by month.
Hi Alexia,
I'm confused. There are documentations for waveapp developers here: https://developer.waveapps.com/
Are the APIs not available for existing waveapp users?
Hi, @pynkvalerian.
That page isn't up to date and won't actually allow you to register as a developer. It isn't linked anywhere on our website and will only lead you to error messages if you try and dig in.
There is no publically available API for Wave at this time, but we're more then happy to hear out what you would do if you had access to such a tool. If and when we have updates to give on the matter, we'll be sure to make an announcement.
I am also interested in the API since would like to offer my clients the ability to synchronize with Wase, like we do with QuickBooks. This will allow any supported transactions in Wave to be created\synchronize with our application to prevent having to do double-entry of the same information.
I would be interested in getting at least some public API from WAVE such as "query for a list of transactions under my personal or business accounts between a date time range". This is very similar to what WAVE is doing in terms of pulling the transactions from Bank Connections.
But what this would do for me is that: I can pull the consolidated transactions from my WAVE's accounts (personal or business) to my own applications. The real-world implementation could be "build a chart to show my expense data". This API could just be a Read-Only, no need to write back to WAVE for any case.
Otherwise, right now I can only view the list of transactions that either I manually entered into WAVE or WAVE pulled from my Bank. The list is only visible via the WAVE Transaction page. There is no Export button. If I ever want to use this list of transactions to build my own chart, there is no easy way at this moment.
Thank you both for adding to this discussion, @rreyes3 and @chj915!
Hi,
API integration has become very important for to:
Is there any project from wave to develop API?
Hi, @targetcall.
Making our API publicly available is not currently on our roadmap, but thank you for your interest and for adding to this discussion.
The FIRST thing I would develop with an API is a batch transaction import tool from .ofx, .qbo, .csv, etc. to facilitate my own and others' transition from Quickbooks. I don't want to lose my accounting history, and entering all the data by hand is a major obstacle to switching to Wave!
Hi, @blorpy.
We do already allow you to import transactions in those formats. You can find out more about importing OFX, QBO, QFX and ASO files here, and about importing CSV files here.
I'm curious to know Wave's business rational for not offering a public API? We have been asking for years, and the response is always that it isn't on your road map. Why not? All your competitors (Xero, Quickbooks, Freshbooks, to a lesser degree Stripe) offer an API. I understand that most of those services are paid services, but I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I would be happy to pay a small monthly fee in order to have access to an API, if that would help. It seems to me that you are in danger of being eclipsed by these other platforms in terms of features if a public API is not on your road map.
What really irks me is that you DO have an API, or at least part of one! Zapier uses it! So it's not like you'd have to start from scratch.
Hi @fjohnston.
While I can't speak to plans to make our API public, I can say that we are looking on expanding our offerings in term of integrations in the near future, as mentioned in this post.
If you'd like to discuss the kinds of integrations you'd like to see for Wave, join this discussion and tell us what tools you would like to see integrate with Wave.
That is very disappointing to hear. Integrations are fine, but are still limited and don't allow for the kind of freedom that I'm sure many other developers are looking for.
Rather than focusing development resources on developing a few integrations, why not open up the API and allow the community to write whatever integrations they like?
Throwing my voice in the ring. I also manage a nonprofit, and I need to create a customer portal. I could eliminate a lot of manual overhead (i.e. time I have to spend on the project) if there were an API that I could use to access customers info and invoices.
My hope would be that this could drive more customers to your online payments, if that's any incentive.
I love Wave and am on Wave Pro Network, but having to manually transfer data from Wave to different tools and do things offline makes it difficult to attract clients in Nigeria. Here are a few things I and my clients would love to do.
The idea to develop extensions for Wave came from a new client we recently signed on. They are software developers with great products. They love the simplicity of Wave and see an opportunity in developing Wave extensions for use in Nigeria and Africa.
Imagine what an inventory management plugin would do for Wave. Imagine having payroll plugins for different countries, developed by locals who understand their environment!!
+1 for an API that developers can sign up for
@Basidee Thanks for the post.
Regarding Payroll in Nigeria, while we would love to eventually expand those services further than Canada and the United States, it isn't currently on our roadmap to do so.
We want make sure we have Payroll down perfectly in North American before we look to other countries.
@BenRajabi thanks for your revert.
The point is that limiting the growth of Wave to your internal roadmap alone is rather sad, and frustrating. If you open up the API you can take advantage of several other roadmaps. I could decide to develop an app just for my use, for one of my clients or for the open market.
We are small member run not for profit woodworking and metalworking shop currently developing our own in house Membership Management System. We use Wave to handle our membership dues.
I was really excited to find out that WAVE had a Developer API when I discovered the Wave dev API signup page. Then I was really disappointed to find out that this API is no longer available for folks to use. Talk about managing customer expectations
My guess is that WAVE would really open up a lot of potential business if you were to make this API available to the community.