Serving your needs with Bigin toppings

Serving your needs with Bigin toppings

Hey Biginners!

We're excited to kick off our Developer Community series on building toppings for Bigin, and our goal is to provide an accessible, beginner-friendly, and relevant path for every developer.

Imagine creating tiny pieces of software that unlock enhanced functionalities and seamlessly integrate Bigin with other applications. Those pieces of software are Bigin's "toppings."

Let's dive in!

What are toppings?

Toppings are add-ons that help you to integrate Bigin with other third-party applications or extend existing functionalities, eliminating the need for Bigin users to switch between multiple service-providing applications. With Bigin's Developer Center, developers can build toppings and bundle them into all the features necessary to manage the businesses they serve. Users can install them in their Bigin accounts to enhance their user experiences with custom features and integrations.

How are toppings useful?

Imagine using Bigin and managing your business via different pipelines that cater to different business departments, like sales and support. On a daily basis, the customer support team may receive multiple emails related to these different departments; manually checking each email and saving them as records in the appropriate pipelines would be a time-consuming process and might lead to errors. Bigin's Email-In topping serves to address this functional inefficiency. By creating unique email aliases for different departments, Email-In ensures that any emails sent to these aliases are automatically converted into records in the related Bigin pipeline, eliminating manual intervention, saving time, and reducing the risk of errors. Teams can focus on responding to customers quickly rather than spending hours sorting and categorizing emails.

Or consider another scenario: A business is juggling multiple client meetings, managing several projects, and finding it difficult to track contracts and renewal dates. Without a system in place to manage these contracts, they run the risk of missing renewals, disrupting client relationships, and losing revenue. What they'd need is a topping that helps them organize their contracts in Bigin, set automated reminders for renewals or expirations, and seize every opportunity. Then, the team can focus more on nurturing customer relationships instead of worrying about missing crucial deadlines.

These scenarios highlight the important role toppings can play in business processes.

Now, let's explore where you can build toppings and the features available there.

Bigin Developer Center

To develop a topping for Bigin, make sure you have access to the Bigin Developer Center. You also need to have a clear picture of the functionalities and features you want to include in your topping.

The Bigin Developer Center is a cloud platform that provides developers with ready-to-use tools to create and publish toppings. In the Developer Center, each developer has a designated developer workspace where they can create and manage toppings. From the workspace screen, you can create a topping and enter the Bigin Developer Console, which serves as the space wherein you'll build, test, and publish your toppings, and offers various components to create, customize, and automate them. Read more about the platform's functionalities here.



Once you've developed a topping, the next step is to decide how you want to distribute it. For that, let's look into the types of toppings available.

Types of toppings you can build

Toppings can be either public or private, depending on the distribution method you choose, which in turn defines its visibility to users.

Public toppings

Public toppings are accessible to all users and listed in the Bigin Marketplace, an online store where users can find and install toppings. Users can also search for specific toppings or filter them from the available list.

This enables topping developers to generate revenue based on the number of times their toppings are installed. Based on user ratings and reviews, developers can periodically improve and enhance their toppings. The Bigin Marketplace team has provided guidelines for creating public toppings. Once a developer submits the topping, the Marketplace team will review and approve it, provided that it complies with the established approval policies.

Private toppings

You can create or use private toppings for specific users or organizations. The Developer Console generates a hashed URL that allows access to these toppings and enables you to control how your toppings are distributed.

Private toppings don't require approval from the Bigin Marketplace team and receive validation automatically. Once published, these toppings are immediately available for use. You can publish toppings privately if you want to provide an organization or client with customized features.

How to build a topping

Let's dive into the step-by-step process of creating a topping.

Accessing the Bigin Developer Center

1. Log in to or sign up for Bigin's Developer Center.

Note: The Bigin Developer Center is currently available in the US Data Center (DC). If your existing Bigin account is in another DC, you can still develop toppings by creating a free account in the US DC. To create a developer account, please contact our support team, and they'll assist you in setting it up.

2. After logging in successfully, access the Bigin Developer Center and enter a name for your workspace.




3. Click the Create Workspace button to set it up.

4. Once you create your workspace, you'll land on the Developer Center screen, where you can build your toppings.

Creating a topping

1. On the Developer Workspace screen, find and click the Create Topping button in the top-right corner.

2. Provide details for your new topping.




Enter the desired name for your topping in the Name field. The Unique Namespace is automatically created using the name you provide. Remember, you cannot change the namespace after you create the topping.

  1. Provide a brief overview of what your topping does in the Description field.
  2. Select the Terms and Conditions checkbox and click Save.

Now that your new topping has been created, it's ready to be customized. In the next post, we'll dive into the components and features available in the Bigin Developer Console to build your topping.

Stay tuned for more!

Next >>

    • Recent Topics

    • Managing functions

      Can someone let me know if there are any plans to improve the features for managing functions in CRM? I have lots of functions and finding them is hard. The search only works on the function name and the filter only works on function type. I have created

    • Zoho FSM - Service Appointment Trouble Adding Field Agent

      Hello, I just started using Zoho FSM and I'm currently adding older work orders from prior Field Service application I use. The work order that im trying to add is from an earlier date, and when I try to add a field agent to a service appointment it does

    • 年内最後のユーザー向けイベント：5名限定！ 課題解決型ワークショップイベント Zoho ワークアウト開催のお知らせ (12/18)

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 12月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 今回はZoomにて、オンライン開催します。 参加登録はこちら（無料） https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/QHn6kJAcRs-znJ1l5jk0ww ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは？ Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目的とした「Zoho ワークアウト」を開催します。

    • How do I get my account id?

      Hello, I followed the instructions to get a list of accounts of the currently authenticated user (which is me, and I am logged in). But when I follow the below instructions I get the following error: ERROR: {"data":{"errorCode":"INVALID_TICKET","moreInfo":"Invalid ticket"},"status":{"code":400,"description":"Invalid Input"}} Instructions that I am following: GET - User account details Purpose The API retrieves the list of accounts of the currently authenticated user.  Request URL  http://mail.zoho.com/api/accounts

    • This domain is not allowed to add. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

      I am trying to setup the free version of Zoho Mail. When I tried to add my domain, theselfreunion.com I got the error message that is the subject of this Topic. I've read your other community forum topics, and this is NOT a free domain. So what is the

    • Zoho Quartz Screen Recording

      Hello, can we get access to Quartz, please, as a standalone solution? It would be great for creating training videos for current and future staff on how to use Zoho software according to our company requirements. Thank you

    • auto close automated alert tickets which are similar

      Hello ZOHO Community, we are using ZOHO Desk to process automated monitoring alerts. Scenario: Our monitoring system creates a ticket when a threshold is exceeded, e.g. Subject: Computer 1 – CPU usage 100% – Error A few minutes later, once the issue resolves

    • Maintain knowledge base integrity by moderating article comments

      Hello everyone, A knowledge base provides a self-service platform where customers can refer to articles, user manuals, and other resources to learn about the company's products or services and troubleshoot problems. Often, readers leave a comment on the

    • Making another calendar your default calendar

      I am trying to make another calendar my default calendar when I add events to it. It keep going to a single calendar, I need it to go to my google calendar by default, as this is linked to other services / websites. I cannot find an option to make it

    • Option to Delete Chats in IM

      Currently, there is no option to delete any chats in IM, regardless of their source.

    • Referencing a cell from another sheet

      My workbook has multiple sheets. Each sheet has some calcluated totals in certain cells. The front master sheet has a list of everything that is detailed on the other sheets, with the totals. These could change at any time, so the totals need to be references to the other cell's value, not a fixed number. So on the master sheet, I put in =, then go the other sheet and choose the cell and hit Enter. In regular Excel, this works. But in the Zoho sheet, it doesn't work. I have to edit the result by

    • Group mail for external email addresses

      Hello, I was just wondering if the Group mail feature works with external email addresses - e.g. gmail.com or a completely different domain? it seems only internal addresses (hosted with Zoho) receive the mail. Thanks, Oliver

    • The email address you have entered belongs to a different deployment/region.

      Hi, I am trying to create the user - mprust@crombiecomputers.co.uk but keep getting the message below -  The email address you have entered belongs to a different deployment/region. Please contact support@zohoaccounts.com for assistance. Look forward

    • Use Zoho Flow Credits for CRM ‘Actions by Zoho Flow’

      Hello Team, We would like to submit a feature request regarding credit usage for “Actions by Zoho Flow” in Zoho CRM. Use Case: We are Zoho One users and actively use Zoho Flow, where our organization has 52,000 Flow tasks per month. In Zoho CRM, we use

    • Unusual activity detected from this IP. Please try again after some time.

      Hello Zoho admin and IT team We are a registered website in Eloctronic services and we been trying to add our users to the zoho system but this issue faced us ,, hope you unlocked us please.

    • Alert if a field is ticked.

      Hi There, We have two modules named Opportunities (Deals) and End Users (CustomModule1), as per the image below. Within Opportunities, we have a lookup field that looks up from the End Users Module. We are looking to get an alert either via email or another

    • Zoho CRM Analytics - Allow To Reorder Dashboards

      I would like to suggest that you add the ability to reorder dashboards in the Analytics Module. I can see that this has been requested some time ago, the latest 9 years ago. I am not sure if this is a big or small endeavor, but such a small fix can go

    • Sending a Template to Sign

      hi, trying to send a template to be signed using this as a test: $accessToken = "1000.xxx" $templateId = "1234" $uri = "https://sign.zoho.eu/api/v1/templates/$templateId/createdocument" $payload = @{ templates = @( @{ template_id = $templateId request_name

    • Adding Choices in a Sub-Form Dropdown

      Hi, Has anybody tried Adding Choices to a Dropdown in a Zoho Creator Sub-Form programmatically? My Deluge code adds rows to a subform with 2 fields A and B. A - text field. B - dropdown. My Deluge script adds the row and displays A successfully. For the

    • Zoho CRM Email Templates 100% Width No Background How?

      Hi, On the Zoho CRM Email Templates in setup > customization > templates > new templates > I choose blank template, but still it puts in a gray background and a max width for the email. I just want to make an email that looks like an email I would send from gmail that has no background or max width. How do you do this? 

    • Checking client unsubscribe details

      Hi team, Can you please let me know where we can check if a client has unsubscribed, along with the date and time it was done? If this information is not available at our end, please help confirm the unsubscribe date for the below email ID from the backend:

    • Optimum CRM setup for new B2B business

      Can some advise the most common way to setup Zoho CRM to handle sales for a B2B company? Specifically in how to handle inbound/outbound emails. I have spent hours researching online and can't seem to find an accepted approach, or even a tutorial. I have

    • Scan and Fill CRM Lookup Field

      Not sure if there is a reason why this isn't possible or if I'm just missing it. But I would like to be able to use the scan and fill feature on the mobile app to prefill the CRM lookup field and fetch the rest of the data in the form.

    • Customer Management: #2 Organize Customers to Enhance Efficiency

      When Ankit started his digital services firm, things felt simple. A client would call, ask for a website or a one-time consultation, Ankit would send an invoice, get paid, and move on. "Just one client, one invoice. Easy.", he thought. Fast forward a

    • Zoho Mail and Zoho Flow integration to automatically create ToDo tasks from outbound emails

      How do i setup Zoho Mail and Zoho Flow integration to automatically create ToDo tasks from outbound emails

    • Attachments between Zoho and Clickup, using Flow.

      Olá suporte Flow, tudo bem ? Estamos usando o flow para integrar Zoho Desk com o clickup. Não localizamos a opção de integrar anexos entre do zoho Desk para o clickup. Gostaríamos de saber se migrando para o plano pago, teremos suporte para fazer a integração

    • Adding an Account on Zoho Mail Trigger in Zoho Flow

      I'm trying to create a flow using the zoho mail trigger "Email Receive". My problem is that when I select this trigger, it only shows one account from the account dropdown. I'm planning to assign it on a different email. How can I add other email ad

    • Linnworks

      Unless I am missing something, the Linnworks integration is very basic and limited. I have reached out to support but the first response was completely useless and trying to get a reply in a timely manner is very difficult. Surely I should be able to

    • Test data won't load

      I am using a Flow to receive orders from WooCommerce and add them to a Zoho Creator app. I recently received an order which failed, and when attempting to test the order I found that it just shows a loading animation and shows up in the history as "queued."

    • AddHour resets the time to 00:00:00 before adding the hour.

      Based on the documentation here: https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/functions/datetime/addhour.html Here's my custom function: string ConvertDateFormat(string inputDate) { // Extract only the date-time part (before the timezone) dateTimePart = inputDate.subString(0,19);

    • WhatsApp Link is not integrating

      Hello, I am using zoho flow. when new row added in google sheet it sends email to respected person. In email body I have a text "Share via WhatsApp". behind this text I putted a link. But when the recipient receives email and wants to share my given info

    • Zoho flow - Webhook

      If I choose an app as a trigger in Zoho Flow, is it still possible to add a webhook later in the same flow?

    • Zoho Flow + Bigin + Shopify

      We are testing Zoho Flow for the first time and want to create a flow based in first purchases. When a client makes his first order, we're going to add the "primeiracompra" (first order) tag to his account in Shopify (it's not efficient, but that's the

    • Is it The Flow? Or is it me?

      I want to do some basic level stuff, take two fields from a webhook, create a zsheet from a template using one field with date appended, create a folder using both fields as the name, and put the zsheet into that folder. I was going to elaborate - but

    • Having problem with data transferring from Google sheet to ZMA

      When connecting Google sheet with Zoho marketing automation it is having the email as a mandatory field. Can I change it as non-mandatory field or is there any other way to trasnfer data from google sheet to ZMA. I have leads which we get from whatsapp,

    • Dropbox to Workdrive synchronisation

      I want to get all the files and folders from Dropbox to Workdrive and each time a new file or folder is added in dropbox i want it to be available in Workdrive and wise versa. Sync Updates to Files Trigger: "File updated" (Dropbox). Action: "Upload file"

    • Microsoft Planner Task to Service Desk Plus Request - error n4001

      Hi there. I'm trying to create a flow that will create a new request in ServiceDesk Plus when a new task is created in Microsoft Planner. I have succesfully connected both Planner and ServiceDesk Plus, and have configured the 'create request' section

    • Trailing Space in "Date and time scheduled "

      I am trying to use the Zoho Projects - Create event action in a flow. It is failing with the output error as: "Action did not execute successfully due to an unknown error. Contact support for more details." The input is: { "Duration - Minutes": 30, "Project":

    • Project name by deal name; project creation via flow

      Hello, I want to create a project in zoho projects using flow by a trigger at the crm. My trigger is the update of a deal (stage). The project name should be the account name/ deal name. But I dont find the solution to it. Can you please give me the answer

    • Slack / Zoho Flow; Repl

      I am trying to add a comment in a zoho ticket when someone reply's to a message in a thread. The Message posted to public channel trigger doesn't seem to pick up thread messages. I also cannot use the thread_ts field as it doesn't seem to pull that in.

    • Next Page