Learn how to use Bigin's Developer Console to build toppings

Learn how to use Bigin's Developer Console to build toppings

Hey Biginners,

In our last post, we discussed what toppings are, why they're essential to extending Bigin's capabilities, and how the Bigin Developer Center serves as the starting point for building them. As a cloud platform, the Developer Center empowers developers with a dedicated space exclusively for creating and managing toppings, as well as publishing them to the Bigin Marketplace. Once they create their topping drafts in the Bigin Developer Center, developers can enter the Bigin Developer Console, which is where the actual development takes place.

The Developer Console provides all the resources needed for the entire development journey, from creating and automating to testing toppings before they go live. By using these features, you can create a unique topping that perfectly bridges the gap between Bigin and user-specific needs.


Now let's dive into each of the Bigin Developer Console's features for creating toppings.

Customization

When building a topping, you can include custom components from the Bigin Developer Console. These components range from simple fields to related lists that enable easier navigation through Bigin's user interface.

You can add custom fields in addition to the standard fields available in Bigin to handle your topping requirements. Using custom buttons and links can streamline actions in Bigin or integrate Bigin data with external URLs, applications, or systems. To establish a direct relationship between the records inside Bigin, you can use related lists.
For a step-by-step implementation guide to creating these custom components, please refer to the following links:
  1. Fields
  2. Buttons
  3. Links
  4. Related lists
  5. Widgets
Next, let's explore the Bigin Developer Console's automation features and incorporate them to adding more functionalities to your topping.

Automation features

The Bigin Developer Console offers features that automate repetitive tasks, simplify processes, reduce manual effort, and enhance user efficiency. You can incorporate automation features like workflows, schedules, functions, signals, and more.

A developer creating a topping to improve pipeline management in Bigin might seek to automate repetitive tasks, such as managing stages and assigning responsibilities. For instance, when a new deal enters the "Inquiry" stage in the Sales pipeline, the system promptly assigns it to an appropriate sales rep through an automatic owner assignment rule, which eliminates the need for manual intervention. Likewise, you can set a schedule to send automated email reminders to prospects who haven't responded within a week and define a signal that notifies users in real time when a recipient opens an email.

To learn more about how to implement these automation features in your toppings, check out our detailed implementation guide here. Alongside our automation features, we also enable developers to create custom functions using Deluge scripts.

Custom functions

The Bigin Developer Console enables developers to create custom functions using Zoho's Deluge scripting language. These functions serve to implement business-specific logic in toppings, and are invoked by other functions or components. They eliminate the need for manual repetitive tasks by enabling developers to define specific functions once and invoke them as needed.

Custom functions are categorized into two types: standalone functions and REST API functions.

Standalone functions are self-contained blocks of code that can be invoked from any part of the topping. They can also be invoked from other functions, which enables modular and reusable scripting. On the other hand, Bigin's REST API functions allow developers to expose Deluge code as an API endpoint, enabling external applications to invoke the custom logic hosted in the topping.

For a comprehensive understanding of custom functions, their types, and how to implement them, please refer to our Functions Guide.

While these features enhance the utilities of toppings and improve Bigin's native functionalities, there's another kind of feature that helps expand Bigin's capabilities by integrating it with other applications.

Connections

One sort of topping you may want to build is a connection that transfers data between Bigin and a third-party service. Connections simplify this integration process, ensuring seamless data exchange between applications. Once a connection is established, you can access authenticated data.

Preconfigured default services are available when you're creating a connection. For these services, developers only need to provide the connection details, select the necessary scopes from the available list, and establish the connection. If their preferred services aren't preconfigured, developers can create custom connections by providing service details and authentication credentials. In this case, understanding the authentication and authorization protocols these third-party applications follow is essential for successful integrations.

Consider a scenario in which a sales team wants to notify customers about the sales process by sending instant message notifications via Twilio. For example, when a deal advances to the Proposal Sent stage, Bigin can trigger an SMS notification via Twilio to provide the customer with proposal details. Similarly, when the deal status changes to Closed-Won, the system automatically sends a confirmation message from Bigin to update the customer about the deal's successful closure.

To implement this functionality, developers can create a connector to integrate Bigin with Twilio, as well as to include the logic necessary for sending the message. Also, by incorporating Bigin automation features like workflows, developers can set up triggers that execute functions when certain conditions are met. This streamlines communication, enhances customer satisfaction, and keeps customers informed throughout the sales process. For more information on creating and managing connections, please refer to our detailed guide.

While connections handle backend integrations to enable data exchange between Bigin and other applications, connected apps comes into play when you need an interactive way to engage with both internal data and data from external applications directly within the Bigin interface.

Let's see how Bigin's connected app functionality facilitates this interaction!

Connected apps

A connected app enables an external application to integrate with Bigin through an interface, which is a widget that enhances Bigin's functionality and provides users with a seamless experience in Bigin. You can design your own UI interface and have complete control over the widget.

For example, sales teams often need customers to sign contracts or agreements before closing deals. With a connected app, you can embed an e-signature widget like Zoho Sign directly into Bigin. This enables users to send documents for signatures, track their statuses, and receive signed copies—all without leaving Bigin.

Read here to learn how to build a connected app, create a widget, and embed it into Bigin's UI.

Once you've built all the custom components you need for your topping, you can test it out inside the Bigin Developer Center itself. Let's explore how!

Testing and publishing your topping

Testing ensures that the topping is working as expected, and is important to do before publishing. The Bigin Developer Console provides a sandbox environment wherein you can thoroughly test all your customization components, connections, widgets, and workflows.
Once testing is complete, you can publish the topping through either of the following methods:
  1. Private: Make the topping available to specific users.
  2. Marketplace: The topping becomes accessible to all Bigin users after being validated by the Marketplace approval team.
In the next post, we'll explore testing and publishing in detail and implement real-time use cases.

Stay tuned!

<< Previous                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Next>>

    • Recent Topics

    • openUrl in blueprints

      My customer wants to open a URL at the end of a blueprint transition. Seems this isn't possible right now but it would be very useful. In this thread, https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/openurl-not-working the Zoho agent said that it's logically

    • Dropshipping Address - Does Not Show on Invoice Correctly

      When a dropshipping address is used for a customer, the correct ship-to address does not seem to show on the Invoice. It shows correctly on the Sales Order, Shipment Order, and Package, just not the Invoice. This is a problem, because the company being

    • Prepayment of a sales order

      How does everyone handle this common (at least it is common for us!) situation? We require all our orders to be fully prepaid before shipment since we manufacture made to order, custom products. Since ZOHO does not allow a sales order to be prepaid, we are forced to create an invoice at the time an order is placed to allow the customer to pay it. Our sales category is therefore skewed, since the sale was actually booked at the time an order was placed, rather then at the time it is shipped, which

    • Access to Specific Zoho Desk layout for external parties

      Hi, We have a partner who handles for us sales requests from specific markets. He is not a Zoho Desk user. But we want him to b part of a specific Zoho Desk layout to handle inquiries.  How to achieve it in the easiest way possible?

    • Deposit on a Sales Order

      Good day, 100% of my business is preorders, no inventory. I am trying to run away from QB for one of my businesses, but I require two options that I don't seem to find with Zoho Books. 1 - If there is a way to apply a deposit on a sales order, as with

    • How Does Knowledge Base Search and Article Recommendation Work?

      Hello, I would like to understand how the Knowledge Base search engine works. Specifically, does it search based on: The article title only? The full article content? Both, the article and the content? Keywords? Tags? Also, how does the system determine

    • Bulk Delete Attachments

      Is there a way to bulk delete attachments on the form entries? our storage is full and deleting files one by one is pain taking process.

    • How do I sync multiple Google calendars?

      I'm brand new to Zoho and I figured out how to sync my business Google calendar but I would also like to sync my personal Google calendar. How can I do this so that, at the very least, when I have personal engagements like doctor's appointments, I can

    • Ability to Disable System Banner Messages in Chat Flow Control

      Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, Greetings, We would like to request an enhancement related to the system banner messages in Zoho SalesIQ chat flow control. Current Behavior: SalesIQ allows configuring various automatic banner/system messages such as: Waiting

    • How do you do ticket add ons in Backstage?

      Hi Everyone, If you wanted to have general admin tickets and allow for add ons, like camping, or car or Carbon offset. What would you do? Peace Robin

    • Idle Chat Reminders for Agent-Handled Conversations

      Dear Zoho SalesIQ Team, Greetings, We would like to request an enhancement to the Idle Chat Handling functionality in Zoho SalesIQ—specifically for chats that are handled by human agents after a bot-to-agent transfer. Current Behavior: In Zobot settings,

    • Layout Adjustment.

      Hello Latha, Hope you are doing well. I wanted to check with you about adjusting the layout columns in the Service Report from the backend, as currently there is no capability for us to customize the layout from our end. Below is the output that I am

    • Snapchat

      Are there any plans to add Snapchat to Zoho Social or is there any API that we can use to integrate into Zoho.

    • Zoho Sign "An unexpected error occured" when clients trying to sign documents

      We are unable to have clients sign our documents. When attempting to complete the process an error appears saying "an unexpected error occured" and in the document history just shows "signing failure." We are at a complete standstill with no response

    • ¡Vuelven los Workshops Certificados de Zoho a España!

      ¡Hola usuarios de Español Zoho Community! Hace ya unos días que hemos dado la bienvenida al 2026, y promete ser un año de lo más emocionante. Y es que nos gustaría haceros nuestro particular regalo de Reyes, aunque lleguemos un poco tarde. 🎁 ¡Nos gustaría

    • Cancel Subscription

      Hi , Im want to cancel my account but without success please help me to do it

    • How to list services on quote instead of products

      I need to create a customer facing estimate that displays our services. The default quote layout only allows products to be listed. Is there a way to correct this?

    • Making an email campaign into a Template

      I used a Zoho Campaign Template to create an email. Now I want to use this email and make it a new template, but this seems to be not possible. Am I missing something?

    • Syncing calendar with Google Calendar doesn't work when events are sent to auto repeat

      Hi... The ZOHO CRM -- GOOGLE CALENDAR sync is broken. If I create a single event on either side, sync works, but if I create an event with auto repeat on either side it doesn't work. Furthermore, events created before the sync don't show up in the calendar.

    • Invoice status on write-off is "Paid" - how do I change this to "Written off"

      HI guys, I want to write off a couple of outstanding invoices, but when I do this, the status of the invoices shows as "Paid". Clearly this is not the case and I need to be able to see that they are written off in the customer's history. Is there a way

    • Zoho Books - France

      L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilité

    • Creating meetings from an email

      Hi. Similar to Outlook, it would be helpful if a meeting can be scheduled from an email so that the attendees need not be manually entered every time it's created.

    • Please, make writer into a content creation tool

      I'm tired of relying on Google Docs. I'm actually considering moving to ClickUp, but if Writer were a good content creation tool instead of just a word processor, I would finally be able to move all my development within the Zoho ecosystem, rather than

    • ZohoSalesIQ.Chat cannot send messages

      Chat cannot send messages. Our app implements the customer service chat window functionality by integrating the Mobilisten SDK. Recently, we encountered an issue: after successful SDK initialization and visitor registration, when the `startWithQuestion`

    • Missed chats on WhatsApp closing after one minute

      Hi, we have added WhatsApp as a channel. However, if a chat is not picked up within 2mins, the chat is marked as missed and is closed within a minute. Why are they not staying in our "missed" queue for 24 hours as per our WhatsApp preference settings?

    • Feature Request: Add Tax ID Display on Event Tickets

      Hello Backstage Team, I’ve had several clients bring up an issue regarding tax compliance when creating events. For tax purposes, they are required to show their Tax ID on the event tickets. Currently, this isn’t an option, so they have to manually generate

    • Release Notes | January 2026

      We have rolled out a set of powerful new enhancements across Zoho Vertical Studio that bring several long-awaited capabilities to your applications. These updates focus on deeper customization, smarter automation, better reporting, and improved usability

    • Email Alias: To keep emails flowing without disruption

      Email Alias acts like a nickname for a user’s primary email address, allowing multiple email addresses to deliver messages into the same mailbox. Consider the scenario where an employee manages multiple responsibilities, such as responding to sales inquiries,

    • Zoho Sites - General Feedback

      Hi Everyone-- Quick question for discussion: is it me or is working with Zoho Sites like entering the Twilight Zone? I've built many sites over the years, but this platform seems impossible. I've spent an entire day and a half trying to get a simple one-color

    • Archive Option in Conversation View

      Hello, I have a suggestion\request to add an "Archive Thread" button in conversation view of Zoho Mail. The best suggestion I have is to put an "Archive Thread" button next to the "Label Entire Thread" button in conversation view. Most users don't just

    • Collapsing and expanding of lists and paragraphs

      hello Would you ever implement Collapsing and expanding of lists and paragraphs in zoho writer ? Best regards

    • Automatic Refresh on Page?

      Hi everyone, We use a page as a dashboard which shows data for the laboratory and tasks pending etc. Is there a way to set the page to automatically refresh on a X time? Many thanks TOG

    • Inventory "Bulk Actions" button - add more fields to "Bulk Update > Select a field"

      Can we not get a lot more actions that are commonly used by customers into the "More Actions" button on the Inventory list? More fields listed in the Bulk Update > Select A Field? Possible Bulk update Fields Preferred Supplier ( to quickly move items

    • Bulk upload image option in Zoho Commerce

      I dont know if I am not looking into it properly but is there no option to bulk upload images along with the products? Like after you upload the products, I will have to upload images one by one again? Can someone help me out here? And what should I enter

    • Function #11: Apply unused credits automatically to invoices

      Today, we bring you a custom function that automatically applies unused credits from excess payments, credit notes, and retainer payments to an invoice when it is created. Prerequisites: Create a Connection named "zbooks" to successfully execute the function.

    • Tip #60- Exploring Technician Console: Screen Resolution- 'Insider Insights'

      Hello Zoho Assist Community! Have you ever started a remote session and felt the screen quality wasn’t sharp enough for detailed work? A new user recently explored Zoho Assist after installing the trial version and running a few initial tests. While the

    • Right Moment, Right Message, Right Operator: Never Miss a High-Intent Lead

      Ever been on a website or app, thinking “Should I buy this or not?” and suddenly a friendly message “Hi! How can I help you?” pops up at the perfect moment? That’s not luck. That’s timing done right. Engaging right visitors at the right moment, with the

    • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

      Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

    • Zoho CRM Workflow Automation: Activate & Deactivate Workflows Using API

      Zoho has now enabled: ✅ Activate / Deactivate workflows using API ✅ Schedule workflow activation & deactivation This is extremely useful for real-world automation use cases 💡 🧩 My Use Case I created a scheduled automation that: ☀️ Activates workflows

    • {Action Required} Re-authenticate your Google Accounts to Continue Data Sync

      Hello Users! To align with Google’s latest updates on how apps access files in Google Drive, we’ve enhanced our integration to comply with the updated security and privacy standards, ensuring safer and more reliable access to your data. With this update,

    • Next Page