Connect the services your app uses

Most apps use a few outside services: one sends email, one sends text messages, one answers questions with an AI model, one shows a map. A connector is one of those services, ready to be used by the app Crisp builds for you. The full list shows every service, what it is for, and the keys it needs.

What a connector is#

Each service gives you keys in your own account with that service. Connecting the service means giving those keys to your project, under the fixed names Crisp expects. From then on, Crisp can build any feature that uses the service, and your app can use it in the preview and once it is published. You stay the owner of the account, and the service bills you directly for what your app uses.

Stripe is the one exception: it is built in. Connect it in the Payments panel instead, as Take payments in your app explains.

Connect a service#

1. 1 Open your project. Open the workspace menu in the top bar and choose Connectors.
2. 2 Find the service in the list, or search for it, and open it. The form shows each key it needs and where to find it in your account with the service. The Get your keys link takes you to the right page there.
3. 3 Paste each key into its field and press Connect, the button named after the service. Your preview restarts so the app can use the service.
4. 4 Ask Crisp for the feature in plain words. When a feature needs a service you have not connected yet, Crisp says so in its reply and shows a Connect button that opens the right form.

What the AI sees#

The AI that builds your app only sees the names of the keys, never their values. It writes code that reads each key by its name, in the way the service's own documentation shows, using the official library the service publishes where there is one. A value never appears in the chat, in the code, or in the logs.

Where the keys go#

A connected key is a secret of your project. Your preview gets it as soon as you connect. Your published app gets the keys you have at the moment you publish, so after you change a key, publish again for the live app to use the new value.

Change or remove a service#

• Open Connectors again. A connected service shows when it was connected and which of its keys are set, never the values.
• To replace a key, open the service, paste the new value and press Save changes. To add a key you skipped, such as an optional sender address, open the service and fill the empty field.
• To remove a service, open it and press Disconnect. Its keys are deleted, the preview restarts, and the features that used the service show a "not set up yet" message until you connect it again.
• If a key leaks, delete it in your account with the service first, create a new one, and paste the new one here.

Sign in with another service#

Some connectors, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack or Outlook, connect with a sign-in instead of a key. Open the connector, tick what your app may do, and press Connect: Crisp opens the sign-in page of the service in a popup, you approve it there, and the popup closes. Crisp keeps the sign-in and hands your app a fresh token whenever it needs one, so nothing is pasted and nothing lasting sits in your app. Disconnect removes it and tells the service.

Every such connector also takes your own app with the service, if you prefer: create it in your account there and paste its client id and client secret. Your app then runs the sign-in itself, on your own pages. Google sign-in for the people who use your app works this way. The connector page explains where to create the app.

A service that is not in the list#

You can still use any service that gives you a key. Open the Secrets panel, add the key under a clear name, and tell Crisp which service it belongs to and what you want. Crisp builds with the service the way its public documentation describes. Give your app a key has the steps. If you would like the service added to the list, tell us.

What it costs#

Connecting a service costs nothing on Crisp. The service bills you on your own account for what your app uses there, and Crisp charges only for the requests that build your app, as usage and billing explains.