AMS API Access

Yes. API access is included with every i4a subscription at no additional cost. There are no per-call fees, no usage limits, and no separate API access charges. If you're an i4a customer, you have full API access.

The current API is read-only, meaning you can retrieve data but not modify it through API calls. This design ensures the security and integrity of your membership database. If you need to write data programmatically, contact our team to discuss custom integration options.

The i4a API uses token-based authentication with expiring auth keys. Here's how it works: First, log into the admin interface and generate your API username, password, and token. Then, make a POST request to the authentication endpoint with your username, password, and token to receive a temporary auth key that's valid for 4 hours. Include this auth key in the header of all subsequent API requests. When the auth key expires, simply re-authenticate to get a new one. All requests must use HTTPS/SSL for security.

The API provides access to comprehensive member data including: contact information (name, email, phone, address), membership status (active/inactive), membership type, join date, expiration date, renewal dates, payment history, custom field values, committee assignments, and any other data stored in your i4a database. You can query the Contacts endpoint for profile data, the Membership endpoint for membership-specific details, or the Views endpoint for custom database views. See complete API documentation for detailed field lists and response formats.

Yes. The API supports flexible filtering on virtually any field in your database. You can filter by membership status (active/inactive), membership type, date ranges (join date, expiration date), email addresses, last names, custom fields, or any combination of criteria. This allows you to retrieve exactly the dataset you need—for example, "all active members who joined in 2024" or "members in the Premium tier expiring within 30 days." Query parameters and filtering syntax are detailed in the API documentation.

Yes. The API can retrieve custom field data that you've configured in i4a. This includes custom member attributes, specialized data fields, and organization-specific information. Custom fields are returned in the API response alongside standard fields, making it easy to access all your membership data programmatically.

There are no strict rate limits on API usage. However, we recommend implementing reasonable request throttling in your integration to avoid overwhelming the server. For high-volume integrations that make thousands of requests per hour, contact us to discuss best practices and ensure optimal performance.

API response times are typically under 1-2 seconds for most queries, making it suitable for real-time membership verification and interactive applications. For large datasets, the API supports pagination with up to 100 records per request. If you need to retrieve thousands of member records (for example, your entire membership for a BI tool), you can paginate through the results sequentially. Most associations can pull their complete member database in under a minute using paginated requests.

The i4a API is a standard REST API that can be accessed from any programming language or platform that can make HTTP requests and parse JSON responses. Common choices include Python, JavaScript/Node.js, PHP, Ruby, Java, C#, and many others. You can also use tools like Postman, cURL, or Zapier to interact with the API without writing code.

Your production i4a database is the API environment. We recommend testing your integration carefully using a small subset of data or test member records before deploying to production. Since the API is read-only, there's no risk of accidentally modifying your data during testing. You can also use filtering to limit test queries to specific test accounts (for example, members with "test" in their email address) to avoid affecting production workflows.

Treat your API token, username, and password like you would any sensitive credentials. Store them securely (never in source code or public repositories), use environment variables or secure credential management systems, and only use HTTPS when making API requests. The auth key expires after 4 hours, adding an additional layer of security by limiting the window of exposure if credentials are compromised.

Our support team can help troubleshoot API issues and answer technical questions. If you need assistance building a custom integration, we can also provide development services for a fee. Contact us to discuss your specific integration needs and get a quote for custom development work.