Documented API
The provider publishes a REST, GraphQL, or SOAP interface with authentication, rate limits, and object schemas.
Custom integrations
Your software does not need to be popular to be important.
Most business software with a documented API, a webhook, a scheduled export, or a structured file exchange can be connected to The Forge. Every custom integration begins with an assessment — we scope feasibility, provider risk, and long-term supportability before we quote work.
Feasibility inputs
What makes a system actually connectable?
If your provider offers any of these, there is usually a path forward.
Webhooks
The provider emits event-driven notifications with a verifiable signature.
Secure database access
The customer owns a database the provider allows scoped read or write access to.
Scheduled exports
The provider produces structured file exports on a predictable cadence.
Structured file exchange
The connection can be maintained via SFTP or file drops in a defined format.
Approved partner interface
The provider offers a certified partner API that requires application and approval.
What the assessment evaluates
We scope feasibility before we quote work.
Every custom integration assessment covers the same eleven questions. Skipping them is how connectors turn into liabilities.
- 1Business value — what changes if this is connected?
- 2Technical feasibility — is the API real, documented, and stable?
- 3Provider restrictions — what does the vendor's contract allow?
- 4Data sensitivity — what protection does the domain require?
- 5Authentication — what identity model does the provider support?
- 6Volume — how many events, records, or bytes per day?
- 7Reliability — what SLA does the provider actually meet?
- 8Testing environment — is a sandbox available?
- 9Maintenance burden — who owns the connector when the API changes?
- 10Failure impact — what breaks if this connection stops?
- 11Long-term supportability — is the provider likely to remain viable?
Possible outcomes
An assessment is not a pre-committed yes.
Sometimes the right outcome is a read-only connection. Sometimes it is a managed import. Sometimes it is a redesigned workflow, or a decline. We say so before we take the work.
Approved integration scope
The connection is feasible, valuable, and priced. We proceed with a defined implementation plan.
Read-only connection
The safest connection: The Forge reads from the provider, no writes. Often the right first step.
Bidirectional connection
Two-way sync with explicit conflict rules, duplicate protection, and a documented source of truth per data domain.
Managed import or export
When APIs are limited or provider fees are prohibitive, a managed file-based path can still connect the workflow.
Replacement recommendation
If the tool duplicates a Forge capability and offers less value than the connection would cost, we say so.
Process redesign
Sometimes the right answer isn't a new integration — it's redesigning the workflow the connection was trying to patch.
Declined for risk
We say no when a provider's terms, security posture, or reliability makes the connection unwise. That answer is part of the assessment.
We do not guarantee that every system can be connected. Some providers do not expose the interfaces required. Some require certification we do not carry. Some have terms that prohibit the exchange. The assessment surfaces those honestly.
Bring us the system. We’ll bring the honest answer.
Tell us what you use, why it matters, and what would change if it were connected. We’ll come back with a feasibility scope, a recommended shape, and — where applicable — a transparent implementation quote.