Connect integrations

Settings → Integrations is where you connect the outside services Thermal talks to — your books, card payments, texts, and email — plus a way to build your own connection if you need one. This is the in-app connection settings screen, not the public thermal.com integrations marketing pages — those just describe what's possible; this is where you actually turn a connection on.

What you can connect today

QuickBooks Online two-way sync: customers, items, invoices and payments, with self-serve connect and first-import approval.

• QuickBooks Online — Connect walks you through Intuit's sign-in and authorizes Thermal for your company file; you'll see your Realm ID once it's connected. Customers, items, invoices and payments sync both ways. Payments wait for your approval before they go over (see below). QuickBooks Desktop is not supported.
• Card payments (Stripe) — let customers pay invoices by card. This tile does not connect on Integrations. Set up payments (or Manage payments once connected) opens Settings → Payments.
• Text messaging — send appointment reminders and "on my way" texts from a job. Thermal runs text messaging for you; there is no key to enter. This tile links to Settings → Integrations → Text messaging, where you set up your company's sending number and see where it stands. Texting US numbers waits on carrier registration, which is in progress.
• Email & receipts — deliver invoices and receipts and track delivery reliably. Thermal runs email for you, so there is nothing to connect. The tile is for information only.

Only non-secret identifiers (like your QuickBooks Realm ID or Stripe account) are ever shown on this screen — saved tokens and keys are encrypted server-side, never displayed back to you.

Approving payments before they reach QuickBooks

Invoices and customers go to QuickBooks on their own, with no click needed. Payments (cash, cheque, card, and bank transfer) wait for you. Each one shows up under Automations → Approval history → Awaiting review, titled like "Send $250.00 cash payment on Invoice #1042 to QuickBooks", with the source "QuickBooks sync". Click Approve and it goes to QuickBooks on the next sync. Reject holds it back. It then sits under Rejected, where Restore makes it approvable again.

To change how much runs on its own, open Automations → Rules & bounds and find Accounting sync. The dial offers Off and Suggest only. Auto isn't available, because payments, credit memos and refunds always need approval. See Set up automations and Manage approvals.

Connecting a service

1. Find the service under Available and either:

   • Connect (QuickBooks) — you're sent to Intuit's sign-in and authorization screen, then back to Thermal once you approve it.
   • Set up payments (card payments) — opens Settings → Payments. Connect Stripe creates a Stripe account for you. Already have one? Connect an existing Stripe account authorizes Thermal to use it and keeps your own Stripe dashboard. Customers can pay only after the card shows Taking payments (Stripe has turned charges on). Until then a nudge stays on Payments and in the app.
   • Text messaging — opens Settings → Integrations → Text messaging, where you set up your company's sending number. Email needs no setup from you.

2. Once connected, the QuickBooks card moves up to Connected and shows when it last synced. Text messaging, email, and card payments stay where they are: text messaging links to its own setup page, email is informational, and card payments link to Payments. None of them has a Disconnect on the Integrations card.

3. Choose where Stripe payments land in QuickBooks. First make sure QuickBooks is connected and syncing, and that card payments show Taking payments on Settings → Payments. Then open Settings → Integrations and find Stripe settlement account. Pick the QuickBooks account in the list and choose Save settlement account. If the list is empty or out of date, choose Refresh account list to load your accounts from QuickBooks again. Until an account is chosen, Stripe refunds wait: they are not sent to QuickBooks, and each one opens a sync conflict. Saving the account does not send them by itself. After you save, open Settings → Accounting connection and choose Retry on each waiting refund.

If a connection shows "Setup rolling out — this connection is not configured yet," the account-level configuration for that provider hasn't been turned on for your Thermal instance yet — that's not something you can fix from this screen; nothing will save until it is.

When a connection needs attention

A connected QuickBooks company can drop out of sync — most commonly an OAuth authorization that got revoked on the QuickBooks side. When that happens the card moves to Connected with a "Reauthorize needed" status instead of quietly failing. Click Reconnect to run through Intuit's authorization again; nothing about your existing setup is lost. Card payments that still need Stripe details show Setup unfinished on Settings → Payments, not Reauthorize here.

Disconnecting

Disconnect on QuickBooks clears its saved tokens right away and asks you to confirm first — a disconnected service stops working immediately. Text messaging and email have no Disconnect. Card payments are managed on Settings → Payments, not disconnected from this list.

Building your own connection

The API & webhooks tile opens a screen for two things, side by side:

• Outbound webhooks — register a URL and Thermal will POST to it as events happen (an endpoint can be paused without deleting it, and each one tracks its last successful delivery and last error).

• API keys — create a key to authenticate your own requests into Thermal. Set an expiry when you create or rotate a key (or leave it as never-expiring). An expired key stops working immediately. Rotating a key issues a new one with a fresh expiry and revokes the old one right away — update whatever uses the old key before you rotate it.

• Zapier — the Set up Zapier button opens API & webhooks. There, paste your Zap's Catch Hook URL, name the Zap, and choose Connect Zapier; copy the signing secret when it's shown, because it appears only once. Revoke disconnects it, and the Zap stops receiving completed jobs.

• Webhook integrations — credentials for an incoming partner webhook. Create integration shows the signing secret once. Rotate secret on an enabled integration keeps the current secret working for one hour, then only the new secret works. Revoke disables the credential. A company with no rows here has not connected a partner yet.

The other tiles you'll see here (Google Business, Dropbox) are previews of connections we're building — they're not connected yet, and clicking them does nothing.

Reference

• Who can reach this screen — see Roles & permissions for which roles can manage integrations.