---
id: KB-IN-002
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/integrations/three-ways-to-connect-your-systems
idioma: en
categoria: integraciones
audiencia: desarrollador
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-IN-001, KB-TZ-001]
citadoPor: [KB-IN-005, KB-IN-006, KB-IN-007, KB-IN-011, KB-IN-015, KB-IN-010, KB-IN-003]
---

# Connecting it to your systems

_The three ways to connect, and which to pick for what you need._

**Responde a:** integrate code contract with our erp · api to create processes automatically · get notified when someone signs · connect to sharepoint

If you already have a system where the information lives — an ERP, a CRM, a shared folder — there are three ways to connect it. The difference is who starts the conversation.

| Approach | Who starts | What it is for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| API | Your system | Create processes, upload documents, query status from your own code |
| Automatic notifications | The platform | Learn the moment someone signed or delivered, without polling |
| Connected folder | Both | Have documents appear where your people already work |

## Which to choose

- If your system is in charge and wants to launch processes: API.
- If what you need is to react to what happens here: automatic notifications.
- If people already work in a shared folder and you do not want to change that habit: connected folder.

They are not exclusive, and most setups end up with two: the API to launch and notifications to find out.

> [!WARNING]
> Automatic notifications must be acknowledged: if your system does not respond, delivery is retried. An endpoint that errors on everything generates endless retries and noise.

## Before writing code

The technical documentation with endpoints, authentication and examples lives in the platform itself. This article is the map; the detail is there.

**Is there a test environment?**

Yes, so you do not dirty real data while developing.

**Do access keys expire?**

They can be rotated and revoked. One per integration is better than one for everything.

**Does using the API consume credits?**

It consumes exactly what the same action would through the screen, no more.

## Ejemplos

**A construction firm wants onboarding to start automatically when a subcontractor is created in their ERP.**

- The ERP calls the API when creating the subcontractor
- Receives an automatic notification when the case completes
- Marks the subcontractor as cleared in its own system

→ Nobody types anything twice, and the ERP knows who may enter site without being told.

**An advisory firm with four hundred clients wants creating a client in their practice software to trigger the document request.**

- Their software calls the API when the client record is created
- The onboarding template launches with the data it already had
- The status returns to their software when the client delivers

→ Onboarding stops being double work and the firm sees progress without leaving their tool.

**Each department wants its own connection and four are built doing almost the same thing.**

- Defines one flow and treats the special cases as variants

→ There is one integration to maintain instead of four that clash.

**The connection is built against a version of the system that is about to change.**

- Asks IT for the upgrade calendar before starting

→ The integration is not born obsolete.

**A process that runs three times a year is integrated.**

- Weighs it against doing it by hand

→ Effort goes where there is genuine repetition.

**It is connected and not tested with real data until go-live day.**

- Tests a real case in a separate environment
- Checks what happens when the data arrives wrong

→ Go-live is not also the first test.