# Connect your own system (Integration API)

> Connect an in-house ERP, POS or admin system to Message24 through the Message24 Integration API.

Source: https://docs.message24.net/owners/integrations/custom-api/

If your products live in a system Message24 doesn't have a ready-made integration for, such as an in-house ERP, a POS or a custom admin panel, you can still connect it. Your developer adds a small API to that system following the Message24 Integration API, and you paste its address and key into Message24. On the Integrations page this appears as **Integration API**.

Once connected, your catalog syncs into Message24 like any other integration, and if your system supports it, the orders the AI captures in chat are sent to it.

## What to hand your developer

Send your developer these two pages:

- [Integration API for developers](/developers/integrations/overview/)
- [Message24 Integration API reference](/developers/integrations/integration-api/)

In short, they need to build:

- An address that tells Message24 the system's name and what it supports.
- A list of your products, with prices, stock, images and options.
- Optionally, a way to receive orders. Without it, the catalog still syncs but orders stay in Message24 only.

The API must be reachable over HTTPS from the public internet. Your developer creates an API key for Message24, and your system must reject requests that don't carry it.

When they are done, they give you two things: the **API address** and the **API key**.

:::tip
The connect form has a collapsed section, **Your developer needs to build this**, with a summary of the endpoints and a link to the full specification. You can open it and share it with your developer.
:::

## Connect

The form has two steps.

1. Go to **Settings > Integrations** and click **Connect** on the **Integration API** card.
2. **API address**: the base address your developer gave you, for example `https://erp.yourcompany.com/message24`.
3. **API key**: the key your system issued for Message24. It is stored encrypted and never shown again.
4. Click **Verify**. Message24 calls your system and shows what it found: the system's name, the address, and what it supports (for example "Supports: products, orders").
5. Choose what to do with it:
   - Tick **Send orders to this system** if you want orders sent there, and pick **Send orders when they are** **New** or **Confirmed**.
   - If your system doesn't accept orders, this option is disabled with a note saying so. It becomes available once your developer adds order support.
6. Click **Connect**.

If verification fails, the error from your system is shown in the form, for example a rejected key or an address that isn't a Message24 Integration API. Nothing is saved until verification succeeds.

## Syncing

Products sync automatically in the background. From the **Integration API** card you can also click **Sync** to fetch recent changes, or **Full Sync** to re-fetch the whole catalog and deactivate products your system no longer lists. The background sync also re-reads the whole catalog once a day, so products removed from your system are deactivated within about a day even if nobody presses **Full Sync**. See [How syncing works](/owners/integrations/overview/#how-syncing-works).

Problems your system reports, such as a product it couldn't send or an order it rejected, appear in **Sync Activity** on the Integrations page with the message your system returned. Share those with your developer.

## Orders

When an order reaches the stage you chose, Message24 sends it to your system with the customer's details, the items (including your system's own product and variant references for catalog items), the total, discount, delivery fee and notes. Your system replies with its own order reference, which Message24 keeps on the order.

Only one integration can send orders at a time. If another integration already sends orders, turn that off first.

## Change settings

Click the settings icon on the Integration API card. You can turn order sending on or off and change the stage. To point Message24 at a new address or a rotated key, click **Change**, update the fields (leave the key empty to keep the current one), and click **Save changes**.

If your system can't be reached when you open the settings, the error is shown at the top, but you can still edit and save, which is usually how you fix it.

## Disconnect

Click **Disconnect** on the Integration API card and confirm. Products stop syncing and no more orders are sent.