Connections

Open Connections in the sidebar. The page has two cards:

Connect your store: lets your agent look up orders, products and shipping in your online store.
Inbound connections: lets your other systems (a CRM, a calendar, a booking or form tool, or your own code) send contacts and events into RuleInside.

To send data out of RuleInside to your own systems, use Webhooks instead.

The Connections page with the Connect your store card and the Inbound connections card — The Connections page: your store at the top, inbound connections below.

Who can do what

Everyone on your team can see whether the store is connected, see the inbound connections, and use Copy URL.
Only the owner can connect the store and create, switch on or off, change the secret of, or delete an inbound connection. Members see a note that only an account owner can do this.

Connect your store

You never copy or paste a key. You approve the connection in your own store’s admin, your store hands the access keys to us directly, and we check them against your store before anything is saved. The first line of the card says which kind of store your account is set up for. This is set when we set up your account; there is no store type to choose on this card.

What the card says	What it means
”Your account is set up for a WooCommerce store.”	You can connect your store yourself, as below. If your store runs on FluentCart instead, contact us before connecting.
”Your account is set up for a FluentCart store.”	For now our team connects FluentCart stores. Contact us and we connect yours with you.
”Store connection is available for WooCommerce and FluentCart stores.”	Contact us to connect a store on another platform.

Fields and buttons

Item	What it does
Status line	”Connected to” and your store’s checked address, or “No store is connected yet.”
Last attempt line	The result of your latest connection attempt. See What the last attempt says.
Your store address	Your store’s public address, for example `https://shop.example.com`. Up to 2,048 characters. Filled in with the connected address when there is one.
Connect your store	Starts the connection (the first time). Available once an address is typed. While it works it reads “Opening your store…”.
Connect again	Replaces Connect your store once a store is connected. Available once you tick the warning box below.
Check again	Reloads the card to show the latest status. It does not contact your store.

Connect a WooCommerce store

Enter your store address and click Connect your store

Use the public https address of your store.

Approve the connection in your store

Your store’s own WooCommerce approval page opens in a new tab. Approve the app named RuleInside (followed by your account id) with read and write access. WooCommerce offers no narrower choice, and your agent makes some changes in your store.

Come back and click Check again

Your store sends the access keys straight to us, and we test them against your store before saving. The card shows the result.

The approval page is valid for 10 minutes. You can start at most 5 connections in 10 minutes.

Connecting again

Connect again creates a new access key in your store, and the old key keeps working until you delete it in your store’s admin. Before you can connect again, tick “I understand, and I will delete the old key in my store’s admin.” Then delete the old key in WooCommerce afterwards.

What the last attempt says

On the card	What it means
”Last connection: approved in your store and checked by us.”	Connected and checked.
”Waiting for you to approve the connection in your store. The approval page stays valid for 10 minutes.”	You started but have not approved yet.
”You approved the connection. We are checking it against your store now.”	Our check is running. You cannot start again meanwhile; click Check again in a minute.
”The last approval page expired before it was used. Start again when you are ready.”	The 10 minutes passed.
”The connection was approved on a different website than the store address entered here. Check the address and start again.”	You approved it on another site.
”Your store did not give us the access we asked for. Start again and approve the access your store asks you about.”	The access was refused, or less than read and write was approved.
”We could not reach your store to check the connection. Check that your store is online, then start again.”	Your store was offline or did not answer as expected.
”Your store did not send the access details. Start again and complete the approval in your store.”	The approval was not finished.
”Your store is not the kind your account is set up for. Contact us.”	The store is a different platform from the one your account is set up for.
”This store is already connected to another RuleInside account, so it was not connected here. Contact us if it is yours.”	Another account has this store.
”Something went wrong on our side while connecting. Start again, or contact us if it happens again.”	The problem was on our side.
”We could not load your store connection. Refresh the page to try again.”	The status could not be read. You cannot connect until it can; refresh the page.

Messages when you click Connect

Message	What to do
”Enter your store’s address.”	Type your store’s address.
”Confirm the warning about the old key first.”	Tick the warning box.
”That store address cannot be used. Enter the public https address of your store.”	Use your store’s public `https` address.
”We could not find that store address right now. Check it and try again in a minute.”	Check the address for typing mistakes, then try again.
”You already approved a connection and we are still checking it. Press Check again in a minute.”	Wait, then click Check again.
”Too many attempts in a short time. Wait ten minutes, then try again.”	Wait ten minutes.
”Your store is not the kind your account is set up for. Contact us.”	Contact us.
”For now our team connects this kind of store. Contact us and we will connect it with you.”	Contact us.
”Store connection is not available for your store’s platform.”	Contact us.
”We could not check your store connection. Please try again.”	Try again in a moment.
”This store is already connected to another RuleInside account. Contact us if it is yours.”	Contact us.
”We could not start the connection. Please try again.”	Try again; contact us if it keeps happening.

Inbound connections

An inbound connection gives another system its own web address (a webhook URL) and a secret to send you contacts and events. You then say where each field is in the data that system sends.

Incoming data never places a call on its own and never gives calling consent. A call only happens through an Automation, and always passes the consent and calling-hours checks.

There is no fixed list of systems to choose from: any system that can send a secure (HTTPS) request with JSON data and a custom header can send you data. You name each connection yourself, and the field mapping adapts it to the system that sends.

Create a connection

The New connection panel with the connection id and the field mapping — The New connection panel: an id, then where each field is in the sender's data.

Click New connection (owner only). Fill in:

Field	Rules	What it does
Connection id	Required. Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, starting with a letter or number, up to 40 characters. Must be unique in your account.	Names the connection, for example `hubspot` or `calendly`, and becomes the end of its webhook URL. It cannot be changed later.
”The sender already uses our event format (no mapping needed)“	Off by default	Switch it on if the sender already sends events in RuleInside’s own format (see Our event format). The mapping fields are then hidden, except Do not call - path.
”Switch on now”	On by default	Whether the connection accepts data as soon as it is created.

With the format switch off, tell us where each value is in the sender’s data, using dot paths. customer.email means “the email inside customer”; contacts.0.email means “the email of the first contact”. Leave blank what the sender does not send. Each path can be up to 200 characters.

Field	Example	What it does
Event type - path	`action`	Where the sender’s data says what kind of event it is. If filled in, the fixed type is ignored.
Event type - fixed	`lead.created`	One event type used for every message, when the sender does not say. Used only if there is no path.
Email - path	`customer.email`	Where the contact’s email address is.
Phone - path	`customer.phone`	Where the contact’s phone number is.
Name - path	`customer.name`	Where the contact’s name is.
Their record id - path	`customer.id`	The contact’s id in the sender’s system, used to recognise the same person next time.
Do not call - path	`customer.do_not_call`	Where the sender marks a contact not to be called. See Do-not-call from your own system.
Their event id - path	`id`	The sender’s own id for each event, so a message sent twice is recorded once.

Click Create connection (available once a Connection id is typed). If the format switch is off and every mapping field is blank, you are asked to map at least one field or switch on the format option. If the id is already used, you see that a connection with that name already exists. On success you see “Connection created.” and the credentials panel.

Copy the URL and the secret

After you create a connection, or after New secret, a yellow panel shows:

Webhook URL, with a Copy button;
Header (X-RI-Ingest-Secret): the secret, with a Copy button. The sending system must send it in an HTTP header named X-RI-Ingest-Secret with every request.

Put both into the system that will send you data, then click Done.

The secret is shown only once. After you click Done it cannot be shown again; the only way to get a usable secret is New secret.

Each connection on the list

The card shows how many connections you have. Each one shows:

its Connection id and a badge: Active (switched on) or Off;
its webhook URL;
an On / Off switch (owner only). It takes effect straight away, with no save button. If the change fails, the switch flips back and you see “Could not update the connection.”;
Copy URL (everyone): copies the webhook URL;
New secret (owner only);
Delete (owner only).

New secret asks you to confirm (“Replace the secret?”), then replaces the secret at once. The old secret stops working immediately, and the sending system is refused until you update its X-RI-Ingest-Secret header with the new secret. This cannot be undone.

Delete asks you to confirm (“Delete this connection?”); choose Delete or Keep it. The webhook URL stops accepting data, and this cannot be undone. Contacts and events it already delivered are kept. You can create a connection with the same Connection id again later; it gets a new secret. If you see “Couldn’t load your connections. Refresh to try again.”, the list could not be loaded at that moment, even if the count says you have none. Refresh the page.

Do-not-call from your own system

A connection can say where the sender marks a contact not to be called (Do not call - path). A clear yes adds the number to your do-not-call list, so your campaigns never call it. These values count as yes, in any mix of capital and small letters: true, yes, y, 1, si, sì, sí. The number blocked is the one in the message, together with every number already stored for a contact matched by their record id or email. Nothing sent this way removes a number from your do-not-call list. A connection can only add numbers.

Our event format

If you switch on “The sender already uses our event format (no mapping needed)”, each message must be a JSON object like this one:

{
  "type": "lead.created",
  "event_id": "evt-123",
  "contact": {
    "email": "name@example.com",
    "phone": "+15555550100",
    "external_id": "crm-456",
    "name": "Sample Customer"
  },
  "payload": { "source": "contact form" }
}

curl -X POST "https://your-webhook-url-from-the-portal" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-RI-Ingest-Secret: your-secret" \
  -d @event.json

type is required: 1 to 64 letters, digits, ., _ or -.
event_id, occurred_at and payload are optional.
contact needs at least one of email, phone or external_id. It can also carry name and attributes.

The same rules apply to a mapped message once it has been mapped: it needs an event type and at least one of email, phone or record id.

What the sending system gets back

Answer	Meaning
Success	The event was recorded.
401	Unauthorized: the connection is unknown or switched Off, or the secret is wrong or missing. All of these look the same on purpose, so outsiders cannot find out which connections exist.
400	The data is not valid JSON, or after mapping the event type is missing or not valid, or the contact has no email, phone or record id.
408	The message arrived incomplete. It is safe to send it again.
413	The message is larger than 128 KB.
502	A do-not-call instruction could not be recorded. The sender should try again.

Common questions

Do I have to paste an API key from WooCommerce?

No. You approve the connection in your store, and your store sends the access to us directly.

I connected again, and now there are two keys in WooCommerce

That is expected: the old key is not removed automatically. Delete the older one in your store’s admin.

The card says it is waiting for me

You have not approved the connection yet, or you closed the approval tab. The approval page is valid for 10 minutes; start again if it has expired.

My store runs on FluentCart

For now our team connects FluentCart stores. Contact us and we connect yours with you.

Which systems can I connect with an inbound connection?

Any system that can send a secure (HTTPS) request with JSON data and a custom header. There is no fixed list.

My system gets 'Unauthorized'

Check, in order: the connection is Active; the header name is exactly X-RI-Ingest-Secret; the secret is the latest one (after New secret the old one no longer works); and the whole URL was copied.

I lost the secret

Click New secret and update the sending system with the new one. The old secret cannot be shown again.

Will sending contacts here make my agent call them?

No. Calls only happen through an Automation, after the consent and calling-hours checks.

Can a connection remove a number from my do-not-call list?

No. A connection can only add numbers to it.

Getting started

Your agents

Your website

Calls and messages

Reaching your customers

Rules and consent

Store and integrations

Developers

Your team and account

Billing

Help

Who can do what

Connect your store

Fields and buttons

Connect a WooCommerce store

Connecting again

What the last attempt says

Messages when you click Connect

Inbound connections

Create a connection

Copy the URL and the secret

Each connection on the list

Do-not-call from your own system

Our event format

What the sending system gets back

Common questions

​Who can do what

​Connect your store

​Fields and buttons

​Connect a WooCommerce store

​Connecting again

​What the last attempt says

​Messages when you click Connect

​Inbound connections

​Create a connection

​Copy the URL and the secret

​Each connection on the list

​Do-not-call from your own system

​Our event format

​What the sending system gets back

​Common questions

Who can do what

Connect your store

Fields and buttons

Connect a WooCommerce store

Connecting again

What the last attempt says

Messages when you click Connect

Inbound connections

Create a connection

Copy the URL and the secret

Each connection on the list

Do-not-call from your own system

Our event format

What the sending system gets back

Common questions