Introduction to TrackVia Integrations

Overview

TrackVia offers four ways to connect with external systems and automate processes: the TrackVia API, Workato, Microservices, and App Scripts. Each serves a different purpose — understanding when to use each one will help you build more reliable, maintainable integrations.

The TrackVia API

The TrackVia API is the foundation that all integrations are built on. It allows external systems to read, create, update, and delete TrackVia records programmatically by making HTTP requests to TrackVia endpoints.

Authentication requires two credentials, found in the TrackVia Admin panel under API Access:

• API Key: a permanent, account-level identifier
• Auth Token: a time-limited credential tied to a specific API User account

Every API request must include both. Auth Tokens have an expiration date and must be rotated proactively — when a token expires, any integration using it will immediately begin failing with a 401 Unauthorized error.

⚠️ Important: Always use a dedicated API User account for integrations — never use an employee's personal login. If that employee leaves or their password changes, every integration tied to those credentials will break.

Use the API directly when:

• Building a custom integration with code your team maintains
• Calling TrackVia from an external script or scheduled job
• Invoking a Microservice endpoint on a custom schedule

Workato

Workato is TrackVia's built-in integration platform. It provides a low-code, drag-and-drop environment for connecting TrackVia to thousands of external systems — Salesforce, Google Sheets, Slack, Outlook, Workday, and more — without writing custom code.

Core concepts:

• Connection: the authenticated link between Workato and a system (e.g., your TrackVia account). Uses the same API Key and Auth Token as direct API access.
• Recipe: an automation workflow consisting of one Trigger and one or more Actions
• Trigger: the event that starts a Recipe (e.g., a new record appears in a TrackVia view)
• Action: what the Recipe does in response (e.g., create a row in Google Sheets)
• Job: a single execution of a Recipe; full history is stored for troubleshooting

Use Workato when:

• Syncing data between TrackVia and another business system
• Automating notifications (Slack messages, Outlook calendar events)
• A no-code or low-code approach is preferred over custom development
• You need scheduled or event-driven data flows between platforms

Key best practices:

• Create integration-specific TrackVia views that include only the fields a Recipe needs — avoid using default views
• Use dedicated API User accounts per integration (e.g., salesforce.integration@company.com)
• Design for failures: configure retry logic with exponential backoff
• Add deduplication logic to prevent duplicate records when Jobs retry
• Watch for infinite loops in bidirectional syncs — use flags or "last updated by" checks to break cycles

Microservices

See our Developer Documents site for more information on Microservices.

Microservices are custom code packages (typically AWS Lambda functions) that run outside TrackVia and are triggered when records are created, updated, or deleted via the TrackVia API or UI.

Unlike App Scripts — which run inside TrackVia during a transaction — Microservices connect TrackVia to external systems and can run asynchronously.

Use Microservices when:

• Calling third-party APIs or external services
• Sending notifications through external systems
• Running asynchronous or long-running processes
• Orchestrating complex enterprise workflows

Important limitations:

• Microservices are not triggered by App Script activity — only by direct API calls
• Bulk update operations do not trigger Microservices
• The default timeout is 60 seconds; nested or synchronous Microservices count toward this limit
• Microservices are not copied when a Sandbox is created — they must be re-uploaded and reconfigured
• Sandbox environments have half the compute resources of production, so timeouts may occur in Sandbox that do not occur in production

App Scripts

App Scripts are lightweight scripts that run inside TrackVia as part of a record transaction — before or after a record is saved. Unlike Microservices, which call out to external systems, App Scripts operate entirely within TrackVia and are ideal for in-app logic that must execute synchronously with user actions.

Use App Scripts when:

• Validating a field value before a record is saved
• Calculating or updating fields on a record automatically
• Enforcing business rules at the point of data entry
• Performing lightweight transformations without external system calls

Important limitations:

• App Script activity does not trigger Microservices
• App Scripts run synchronously — long-running logic should be handled by Microservices instead
• App Scripts are not suited for calling external APIs or services

Which Option Should I Use?

Related Articles

• API Authentication and Access
• TrackVia Integrations: Auth Token Authentication
• Introduction to TrackVia Integrations Powered by Workato
• Workato: Best Practices for TrackVia Connections
• Workato Recipe Design Best Practices
• Troubleshooting Common API Errors
• App Script Troubleshooting — Common Errors and Resolutions