API INTEGRATION
API integration.
Connecting systems that were never designed to talk to each other, built so that when the other side fails, you find out immediately.
BEFORE THE QUOTE
The review that stops estimates going wrong.
Integration work produces more inaccurate estimates than other development because the difficulty is invisible from the outside. Two integrations that sound identical can differ by weeks.
The review checks whether documentation matches actual behaviour, whether a sandbox exists, how authentication and token expiry work, practical rate limits, webhook coverage, and whether the data model can represent the required sync. It takes a few hours and makes the fixed price more trustworthy.
THE DISCOVERY
The integration is reviewed before it is priced, not discovered halfway through the build.
WHAT I CONNECT
The tools your business already relies on.
Integration work is built around the records, events, and failure paths that matter to the people using the systems.
Payments
Stripe, PayPal, and platform-specific payment systems.
CRM and marketing
HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Salesforce, Mailchimp, and connected campaign workflows.
Ecommerce operations
Shopify, WooCommerce, inventory, order, and fulfilment systems.
Communication
Twilio, SendGrid, Slack, and the events that trigger useful messages.
Productivity tools
Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zapier, storage, and operational systems.
Industry-specific software
Custom integrations with the systems that matter to your business, even when they are not widely known.
RELIABILITY
Integrations that fail loudly.
Every external service will fail eventually. The useful question is whether the system notices and recovers safely.
Retry with backoff
Transient failures are retried without creating unnecessary pressure on the service.
Idempotency
A retried request cannot accidentally duplicate an order, contact, or record.
Timeouts and queues
Slow third parties do not hang the main application, and non-urgent work is handled safely in the background.
Dead-letter handling
Repeated failures are kept visible and recoverable rather than disappearing silently.
Actionable alerting
Alerts name the integration and the reason so the right issue can be fixed quickly.
Documentation and handover
The ownership, mapping, and recovery process remain clear to the team after delivery.
TWO-WAY SYNC
Data sync needs explicit rules.
Keeping two systems aligned is harder than moving data one way because both sides can change. The design needs a source of truth for each field, deliberate conflict handling, identity mapping, deletion rules, and a reconciliation process for the drift that will eventually happen.
Sync projects fail when these questions are answered implicitly during development. They are agreed before the build so both systems have a clear role.
“Two systems stay aligned by design, not by hoping the next webhook succeeds.”
COMMON QUESTIONS
API integrations, clearly scoped.
The practical questions before two systems start sharing data.
Can you integrate with a system that has no API?
Sometimes, through database access, file exchange, or scheduled imports. Screen scraping is a last resort and its fragility is made clear.
How long does an integration take?
A well-documented API with a sandbox can take a few days. A poorly documented one can take weeks. The pre-quote review makes the difference clear.
What if the third party changes their API?
Versioned integrations and alerting mean you find out immediately rather than through a customer.
Can you fix an integration someone else built?
Usually, after a review of the existing implementation and its failure paths.
Do you build two-way sync?
Yes, with conflict handling designed rather than assumed.
Can you integrate our custom system with a platform?
Yes, provided the system exposes an API or a database that can be reached safely.
Need two systems connected?
Tell me what needs to talk to what, and send the API documentation if you have it. The integration is reviewed before it is quoted.