Glossary

API integration

Connecting two systems by having one call the other's application programming interface to exchange data.

API integration connects two systems by having one make programmatic calls, usually HTTP requests, to the other's application programming interface (API) to send or retrieve data, instead of moving data by hand or through a file export. A pipeline might call a CRM's API every hour to pull new leads, or push computed scores back into a marketing platform through its API.

This is a pull-based, requester-initiated pattern: the calling system decides when to ask for data and how often, which differs from a webhook, where the source system pushes an event to the receiver the moment something happens. Most production API integrations require handling authentication, rate limits, pagination and retries, and many teams use a prebuilt connector that already handles these details for a given source rather than writing integration code from scratch.

API integration matters because it is how most modern SaaS tools exchange data with each other and with internal pipelines, and it underpins data ingestion from systems that don't offer bulk export. Common pitfalls include not handling an API's rate limits gracefully, causing throttling or bans, and not planning for the source API's schema or version changing over time, which is one reason some integrations are formalized with a data contract.

Last reviewed September 22, 2026

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Related terms

Webhook An automated HTTP callback a system sends to a URL the moment a specific event happens, instead of waiting to be asked. Connector A prebuilt, reusable component that handles the specifics of extracting data from or loading data into a system. Data ingestion Moving data from its source systems into a storage or processing system where it can be transformed and analyzed. Data contract A formal, versioned agreement on a dataset's schema and semantics between the team producing it and its consumers.

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