CareLineLive’s API is a powerful tool designed for our customers and trusted partners to integrate their systems with the CareLineLive platform, enabling use cases for data synchronisation and process automation.

The API allows programmatic access to a CareLineLive environment, allowing you to read and write data to your environment; for example carer and client records, addresses, and reference data.

This guide will walk you through the prerequisites, capabilities, and steps required to make your first API call.

What is an API?

API stands for Application Programmable Interface. It’s a method for computers to communicate with each other, for example for one piece of software to speak with another. It’s a secure bridge between CareLineLive and your other software. It allows them to share information, saving you time, reducing manual data entry, and preventing human error.

Instead of an employee exporting a list from one system and uploading it to another, the API lets the systems do that work for you.

Whilst the API does allow these kind of interactions to happen, there still needs to be a piece of software in the middle to connect them together, which will essentially translate the language of one system to another. This is frequently referred to as “middleware”.

Pre-requisites

Who can use the API?

The CareLineLive API is available to customers and trusted partners who want to integrate their own systems with CareLineLive.

• You must have an active CareLineLive environment.

• API access must be enabled for your environment. Please contact customer support if the API has not been enabled yet.

• Only users with the appropriate permissions to create Personal Access Tokens can use the API.

Not sure if you have access? Please speak to your system administrator or contact support@carelinelive.com

Technical knowledge and ability

As APIs are built for computers to talk to each other, it’s not always straightforward to start using the API.

We can’t recommend any courses or training materials that will build the foundational knowledge needed to start developing applications using the API, but there are a plethora of software development agencies who will be willing to take on your project.

Where to find the documentation

The API is documented using the OpenAPI v3 standard. You can view the latest API documentation by visiting: https://api.docs.carelinelive.com

This page offers a clear, interactive guide to all available endpoints, complete with explanations and examples to help you get started.

If you wish to export the raw OpenAPI specification, click the “Export” button in the top-right of the page.

The documentation lists all available operations that are possible to perform using the CareLineLive API; if there’s a particular operation that isn’t yet available, please submit your use case using the following form: API Feature Request

What use cases can the API enable?

The API gives you tools to view and manage your CareLineLive in a programmatic way; opening up possibilities for automation, data synchronisation, and custom applications built on top of the CareLineLive platform.

Some example projects/use cases that the API can facilitate include:

• Automated payroll: Automatically send finalised visit times and carer details to your payroll software (like Sage or Xero).

• Simpler carer onboarding: When you add a new carer to your third-party HR system, an account can automatically be created for them in CareLineLive, saving administrative time.

• Create custom reports: Pull live data from CareLineLive into reporting tools like Microsoft Power BI or Excel to build custom dashboards and get deeper insights into your operations.

Using the operations permitted by the API, you’re free to build any application or middleware you wish. We have some customers that have successfully created middleware between CareLineLive and other software platforms they use in their organisation.

Getting started

The following steps will help you get started with your journey towards creating applications that integrate with CareLineLive.

Step 1: Planning

Decide what you want to achieve. Is there a process that you want to automate, or data that you want to extract or input? Planning is always the most crucial step when working on any software project.

For example: “I want to stop manually entering carer data into CareLineLive after they’ve been added to our HR system”.

Having a clear goal is the most important first step.

Step 2: Involve a technical resource

The API is a tool for developers or IT professionals. It’s not something that can be set up from a settings menu. You will need to work with:

• An IT person or developer from your own team.

• Or, a third-party software provider (like your HR software company) who will perform the integration.

• Or, an IT consultant.

Step 3: Authentication

• Check your access: Ensure API access is enabled for your CareLineLive environment and that you have the right permissions.

• Generate a Personal Access Token: Once logged in you account page. Go to Accounts - open your user account and select API tokens.

• Click on the + top right to Add personal access token.

  • Personal access tokens can be used to authenticate yourself when using CareLineLive's API. Tokens will inherit any permissions that are assigned to your user account.

• Complete the Name field and select when the token should expire.

  • Choose a suitable expiry timeframe; the shorter the better.

  • Whilst it may be tempting to set a long expiry, if the token was ever to be compromised (i.e. copied by a malicious actor), they would be able to continue using it until it expires.

  • You can also revoke a token at any time to cut off access.

• Click Create token

  • Once you have created your token, the token will not be shown again, so please make sure to copy the token before closing.

  • Keep the token safe! It’s essentially a login to your CareLineLive environment; whilst it won’t grant access to the management portal, if it falls into the wrong hands and is used maliciously, it’d grant access to your data.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Do I need to be a developer to use the API?
  Not strictly, no. We won’t check whether you have the expertise needed before granting you access to the API.

• Are there any risks when using the API?
  You should be aware of the potential risks if the API is misused.

  For example, if your token was to be used by someone else, they would be able to download a list of client data from the API; or they would be able to modify records, such as permanently deleting visit data.

• Is the API secure?
  Yes. It uses the same security measures as the broader CareLineLive platform. Make sure you’re handling your credentials in a secure way, and follow best practices with regards to sharing sensitive data with colleagues. You can also revoke an API token at any time to cut off access.
  
  If data is being extracted from CareLineLive, any controls that CareLineLive has in place to ensure they remain private and confidential will no longer apply. Make sure you follow your organisation’s data handling policies.

• Does this cost extra?
  The API is provided free-of-charge, but access is not enabled by default. Please contact the customer support desk to request access to the API.

Glossary