# How do I build my own app or integration?

> Use the WorkSkedge REST API to read and write data, outbound webhooks to react to changes, and the app platform if you want your tool to open inside WorkSkedge.

- Product: WorkSkedge
- Section: Apps & Integrations
- Canonical: https://workskedge.com/help/apps/build-your-own-app-or-integration
- Updated: 2026-09-01T02:38:15.309728+00:00
- Keywords: workskedge api, workskedge webhooks, build workskedge app, construction api integration, embedded app platform

WorkSkedge is an open platform. Build against the **REST API** when your system needs to read or write WorkSkedge data, subscribe to **outbound webhooks** when it needs to react to changes as they happen, and publish through the **app platform** when you want your tool to open inside WorkSkedge as an embedded screen. Accounting sync is the classic pattern: WorkSkedge sends events out as records change, and your app writes results back through the API.

## Which tool for which job

| You need to | Use |
| --- | --- |
| Pull or push projects, work orders, invoices, timesheets | REST API |
| React the moment something changes in WorkSkedge | Outbound webhooks |
| Give users a screen inside WorkSkedge | App platform (embedded app) |
| Ship to one company only | A private app |

## How an embedded app gets its context

An embedded app is loaded with a signed token and its installation ID. The token carries who the user is, which company they are in and — when the user arrived from a specific record — the project, work order or employee they came from, so your app can open straight onto the right thing instead of asking them to search again.

## Notes and limits

- Installing your app issues it an API key scoped to one company and a signing secret used to verify the users WorkSkedge sends you.
- Webhook payloads are signed; verify the signature before trusting a request.
- Your app is also told when its configuration, role list or installation changes, including uninstalls.
- Sync status fields exist on records such as purchase orders so your integration can report success, failure and a link back to the record it created in the other system.

## Common errors

- **Rejecting installs when your callback fails** — an install completes regardless of your response, so make your handler idempotent and store credentials on first receipt.
- **Trusting an unsigned webhook** — always verify the signature with your app secret.
- **Losing deep-link context** — the record the user came from travels inside the signed token, not as separate query parameters.

## Related articles

- Read the full technical reference in the [developer portal](/developers), including the [REST API](/developers/rest-api), [webhooks](/developers/webhooks) and the [app platform](/developers/app-platform).
- [What are apps and integrations in WorkSkedge?](/help/apps/what-are-workskedge-apps-and-integrations)
- [Install an app from the App Catalog](/help/apps/install-an-app-from-the-app-catalog)
- Join the [partner programme](/partners/developers) to publish to the catalog.

## Screenshots

- WorkSkedge App Catalog showing published apps with category tags and Install buttons: https://workskedge.com/api/public/help-image/app/v2/apps-catalog.webp

## FAQ

### Do I need an app to use the API?

An installed app is what receives API credentials for a company, so integrations are delivered as apps — public in the catalog, or private to a single company.

### Should I use webhooks or poll the API?

Use webhooks. WorkSkedge notifies you as records change, and you call the API for detail or to write back — that is how the accounting sync pattern works.

### Can my app open inside WorkSkedge?

Yes. Embedded apps render inside WorkSkedge and receive a signed token identifying the user, their company and the record they came from.

### How do I report sync results back into WorkSkedge?

Records such as purchase orders carry sync status fields your app can update, including a message and a link to the record you created in the other system.

### Can I build something just for my own company?

Yes — publish it as a private app rather than to the public catalog.