Checklist for Setting Up API Triggers in Follow Up Boss

What Are API Triggers in Follow Up Boss?

API triggers in Follow Up Boss are webhooks — HTTP callbacks that FUB sends to a URL you control whenever a specified CRM event occurs. Instead of polling the API every few seconds to check for changes, your system gets notified the moment something happens. This makes integrations faster, cheaper, and far more reliable than scheduled polling.

Follow Up Boss is a real estate CRM owned by Zillow Group. Its webhook system is documented at developer.followupboss.com. The API uses REST conventions and sends JSON payloads over HTTPS.

Which events can fire a FUB webhook trigger?

FUB supports webhook subscriptions for a range of CRM events. Common trigger events include:

• New lead created (any source)
• Lead status changed (e.g., Active → Under Contract)
• Note added to a contact record
• Task created or completed
• Appointment set or updated
• Deal stage changed
• Email or text received from a contact
• Contact assigned to a new agent

What can you build with these triggers?

Webhook triggers unlock real-time integrations that were impossible with scheduled sync jobs. Real estate teams commonly use them for:

• Instant Slack or Teams notifications when a new Zillow lead arrives
• Auto-creating tasks in project management tools when a status changes
• Syncing contacts to a data warehouse for reporting
• Triggering personalized email sequences via a marketing platform
• Feeding lead data into AI scoring engines like Follow Up Ace's Ace Trove

Before You Start — Prerequisites Checklist

Before touching the FUB admin panel, run through this checklist. Missing any item will block you mid-setup, and some (like HTTPS) will cause silent webhook failures that are hard to debug later.

1. FUB admin access. Webhook configuration requires an admin-level account in Follow Up Boss. Agent-level logins cannot create or modify webhooks.
2. FUB API key. Navigate to Admin → API in your FUB account and generate an API key. Keep this key secret — it provides full read/write access to your CRM data.
3. A publicly reachable HTTPS endpoint. FUB will only deliver webhooks to URLs with a valid SSL certificate. HTTP endpoints and self-signed certificates are rejected. Make sure your receiving server is live and accessible from the internet before registering the webhook.
4. A test environment or staging URL. Use a service like webhook.site or ngrok to capture test payloads during setup. Never point a production webhook at an untested endpoint.
5. Payload parsing plan. Know in advance which fields you need from each event payload. FUB sends JSON; have your receiving code ready to parse and validate the body before you go live.
6. Error handling and retry logic. FUB retries failed webhook deliveries, but your endpoint must return a 2xx status within a reasonable timeout. Plan for idempotent processing so duplicate deliveries don't corrupt your data.
7. IP allowlist (if required). If your endpoint sits behind a firewall, verify that FUB's outbound IP ranges are allowlisted. Check the current ranges in the FUB developer docs before locking down your firewall rules.

Step-by-Step: How to Set Up a Webhook in Follow Up Boss

With the prerequisites in place, here is the exact sequence to register a webhook trigger in FUB. The UI is straightforward once you know where to look.

1. Log in as an admin. Open Follow Up Boss and confirm you see the Admin menu in the top navigation. If you don't see it, your account does not have admin privileges.
2. Navigate to Admin → API. This section lists your API keys and webhook subscriptions. If you haven't generated an API key yet, do it now and store it securely.
3. Open the Webhooks tab. Within the API section you'll find a Webhooks sub-tab. Click it to see any existing webhook subscriptions and the button to add a new one.
4. Click "Add Webhook." A form will appear asking for a destination URL and the events you want to subscribe to.
5. Enter your HTTPS endpoint URL. Paste the URL where FUB should POST webhook payloads. If you're testing, use a webhook.site URL here first.
6. Select the trigger events. Check the boxes for the events you need — new lead, status change, note added, and so on. You can subscribe to multiple events on a single webhook URL, or create separate webhooks for different event types.
7. Save and send a test payload. After saving, FUB may offer a "Send Test" option. Use it. Confirm that your endpoint receives the payload and returns a 200 OK response within the timeout window.
8. Verify the payload structure. Review the JSON body your endpoint received. Identify the fields you need (contact ID, event type, stage, etc.) and update your parsing logic if anything is missing or formatted differently than expected.
9. Switch to your production endpoint. Once testing confirms everything works, update the webhook URL to your live endpoint and save. Monitor your server logs closely for the first hour of live traffic.

Common API Trigger Use Cases for Real Estate Teams

The value of FUB webhooks depends entirely on what you connect them to. The table below covers the integrations that real estate teams reach for most often, along with the FUB event that fires them.

For no-code teams, Zapier and Make are the fastest path. Both platforms have native FUB integrations that abstract away the raw webhook setup — you pick the trigger event in a dropdown, and they handle payload parsing. For teams that need more control or lower latency, a custom webhook receiver gives you direct access to the full JSON payload.

How Follow Up Ace Uses FUB Webhooks to Power Ace Score

Follow Up Ace is built on top of FUB's webhook system. Every time a lead event fires in FUB, Ace processes the payload in real time to update a set of free custom fields on each contact — no polling, no delays.

The following Ace fields are webhook-driven and update automatically as your CRM activity changes:

• Ace Score (0–100) — composite engagement and intent score
• Ace Tier — Hot, Warm, Cool, Cold, or Dormant classification
• Ace Status — current contact lifecycle state
• Ace Response Time — how quickly the lead received an initial response
• Ace Velocity Score — momentum of recent CRM activity
• Ace Days Since Inbound — days elapsed since last inbound contact
• Ace Preferred Channel — channel (call, text, email) that gets the best response rate

These fields appear directly inside FUB because Ace writes them back as custom fields — no dashboard-switching required. This is what makes webhook-based AI scoring practical: the signal is current at the moment your agent opens the contact record.

Beyond scored fields, Ace exposes 200+ MCP tools for deeper analysis. Tools like pipeline-health-check and lead-nurture-optimizer run on top of the same event stream to surface proactive recommendations your agents can act on. You can connect these tools directly to Claude via the one-URL MCP connector at https://followupace.com/mcp. See the Agentic page for the full tool catalogue.

Troubleshooting API Triggers — Common Issues and Fixes

Webhook integrations fail in predictable ways. Below are the issues teams encounter most often and the exact fix for each.

FUB says my webhook URL is invalid — what's wrong?

The most common cause is an HTTP URL where HTTPS is required. FUB will reject any endpoint that doesn't present a valid SSL certificate from a trusted CA. If you're testing locally, use ngrok to get a temporary HTTPS tunnel: ngrok http 3000 gives you a public https:// URL that forwards to your local server.

Webhooks arrive but my data looks wrong or duplicated

FUB may retry delivery if your endpoint returns anything other than a 2xx response, or if it times out. This means the same event can arrive more than once. Make your handler idempotent: check whether you've already processed the event ID before mutating any downstream data. Store processed event IDs in a cache or database with a short TTL.

How do I verify that a webhook payload actually came from FUB?

Check the FUB developer docs for the current signature header FUB appends to each request. Compare the signature against an HMAC-SHA256 hash of the raw request body using your webhook secret. Reject any request that fails signature verification — this prevents attackers from spoofing FUB events against your endpoint.

Webhooks stopped firing after working correctly

FUB may disable a webhook subscription if it receives too many consecutive failed deliveries. Log in to Admin → API → Webhooks and check the status of your subscription. If it's been disabled, fix the underlying endpoint issue first, then re-enable the subscription. Going forward, set up alerting on your endpoint so you know immediately if it starts returning errors.

Testing locally without a public URL

Two tools make local webhook testing easy:

• ngrok — creates a temporary HTTPS tunnel to a local port. Free tier works fine for development. Run ngrok http 3000 and paste the https:// URL into FUB.
• webhook.site — generates a public URL that logs every incoming request in a browser UI. Perfect for inspecting raw payloads before writing any code.

For deeper guidance on building integrations that stay reliable over time, browse the Follow Up Ace guides or check the blog for integration deep-dives.

FAQs

Does Follow Up Boss support real-time webhooks or only scheduled API polling?

FUB supports real-time webhooks. You register an HTTPS endpoint and subscribe to events; FUB POSTs a JSON payload within seconds of the event occurring. You don't need to poll the API repeatedly to detect changes.

Can I use Zapier to set up FUB API triggers without writing code?

Yes. Zapier has a native Follow Up Boss integration with pre-built trigger events. You select the event (new lead, status change, etc.) from a dropdown, connect your FUB account with an API key, and Zapier handles the webhook registration automatically. No code required.

How many webhooks can I create in Follow Up Boss?

FUB's current webhook limits are documented in the FUB developer portal at developer.followupboss.com. Check there for the latest limits on your plan, as they can change. In practice, most teams need only a handful of webhook subscriptions — one or two per integration destination.

What's the difference between the FUB REST API and FUB webhooks?

The FUB REST API is request-driven: your code calls FUB to read or write data. Webhooks are event-driven: FUB calls your code when something changes. Use the REST API when you need to query or update records on demand. Use webhooks when you need to react to events in real time without constantly checking for changes.

Does Follow Up Ace require me to set up my own webhooks?

No. When you connect Follow Up Ace to your FUB account, Ace handles its own webhook registration automatically. The Ace Score, Ace Tier, and all other free custom fields update in real time without any webhook configuration on your part. If you want to build additional integrations on top of the same event stream, you can register your own webhooks alongside Ace's.