Zapier Integration

Connect Zilch to the rest of your stack with Zapier. Automatically email a customer the carbon footprint report for everything on their order the moment it lands in your CRM, invoicing tool, or store — and look up any SKU's footprint from inside any Zap.

The Zapier integration requires an active paid Starter or Pro plan. Sending reports is not available on the free plan or during a free trial.

What you can use it for

The integration exists so that nobody on your team has to remember to send a footprint report by hand. Anything that can start a Zap can now trigger one:

New order → customer gets their footprint report. A Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce order fires the Zap; the customer receives one email covering every product they bought, with the total kg CO₂e for the order.
Invoice sent → report sent alongside it. Trigger from Xero, QuickBooks, or MYOB so the sustainability data arrives at the same time as the paperwork.
Deal marked Closed Won → report to the client. Works from HubSpot, Pipedrive, or Salesforce for distributors who sell offline and want a sustainability touchpoint at handover.
Enrich records with footprint data. Use the SKU lookup to push kg CO₂e, a PDF link, and a results page link into Airtable, Google Sheets, Notion, or your own database — no code required.
Filter and branch on impact. Look up a SKU, then only continue the Zap if a completed assessment exists, or route high-emission products to a Slack channel for review.

Before you start

Requirement	Detail
Zilch plan	An active paid Starter or Pro plan. Free and trialing accounts can connect, but the send action will return a plan error.
Zilch secret API key	A key starting `zlch_sk_`, generated in Settings → Profile → API Access. This is not the same as your widget key.
Assessed products	Each SKU you want reported on must have a completed assessment in Zilch and sit in your catalogue (your own products, or products linked to you by a supplier).
Matching SKUs	The SKU in your store/CRM must match the SKU on the product in Zilch exactly.
Zapier account	Any Zapier plan. Multi-step Zaps (needed for the lookup + filter recipes) require a paid Zapier plan.

Step 1 — Get your Zilch secret API key

Sign in to your Zilch account.
Go to Settings → Profile.
Scroll to the Secret API Key section.
Click Generate secret key, then copy it.

Your secret key starts with zlch_sk_:

zlch_sk_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This is not your widget key. Zilch issues two keys and they do different jobs. The publishable key (zlch_live_…) is the one the carbon emissions widgetputs into your website's HTML, where anyone can read it — so it can only look up a single SKU it already knows. The secret key (zlch_sk_…) is what Zapier and the Partner API use, and it will be rejected by every one of those steps if you paste the widget key instead.

Because the secret key can email your customers and read your whole catalogue, it must only ever live somewhere your customers can't see it — Zapier's connection store, or your own server's environment variables. Never put it in a web page, a browser script, or the widget snippet.

If it's ever exposed, click Rotate secret key on the same page. The old key stops working immediately and any Zap using it needs reconnecting — your widget is unaffected, since it uses the separate publishable key. Rotating is also how you disconnect Zapier from Zilch entirely.

Step 2 — Connect Zilch in Zapier

In Zapier, create a new Zap and add Zilch as an action step.
Click Sign in when prompted to choose an account.
Paste your secret key into the Secret API Key field and click Yes, Continue.

Zapier verifies the key against Zilch straight away. Once connected, the account shows up in your Zapier connections labelled with your organisation name and account type — for example Acme Promo Co (Distributor)— so it's obvious which Zilch account a Zap is using.

Zilch is currently a private Zapier integration. If you can't find it by searching in the Zap editor, contact us and we'll send you the invite link that adds it to your Zapier account.

Available steps

Action — Send Product Report to Customer

Emails a customer the carbon footprint report for their whole order. It's the identical report — same design, same numbers, same per-product breakdown — that you'd send by hand from Reports → Customer Footprint Report inside Zilch, and it's saved to that same list so you have a record of everything sent (and can resend from there if needed).

Input fields

Field	Required	Description
Customer Email	Yes	Where the report is sent. Map this from your trigger.
Order Line Items	Yes	A repeatable group — one row per distinct SKU on the order, each with a Product SKU and a Quantity. All rows are combined into a single email.
Customer Name	No	Used to personalise the greeting. Falls back to the email address.
Order Reference	No	Your order or PO number. Also used for de-duplication (see below).
Custom Message	No	A short note included in the email body.

Mapping line items from your order

Most order and invoice triggers hand Zapier their line items as parallel lists — all the SKUs in one field, all the quantities in another. Map the SKU list into Product SKU and the quantity list into Quantity, and Zapier pairs them up row by row:

Order Line Items
  ├─ Product SKU  →  1. Line Items Sku
  └─ Quantity     →  1. Line Items Quantity

Real invoices contain rows that aren't products — shipping, freight, discounts, notes. Those don't have a SKU that matches anything in Zilch, so they're dropped silently rather than failing the whole send. As long as at least one row resolves to an assessed product, the report goes out. Anything dropped is listed in the Skipped SKUs output field.

Output fields

Field	Description
`status`	`sent` for a fresh send, or `already_sent` if it was de-duplicated
`report_id`	ID of the saved report — matches the entry under Reports → Customer Footprint Report
`total_emissions_kg`	Total kg CO₂e across the whole order, quantities included
`product_count`	How many products made it into the report
`skipped_skus`	SKUs that were dropped — no match in your catalogue, or no completed assessment
`customer_email`	Who it was sent to
`order_reference`	The order reference you passed in

Retries won't double-email your customer. The same combination of customer email, order reference, and line items is only sent once in any 24-hour window. A repeat comes back as already_sent with deduped: true, so a Zap that reruns after a hiccup is safe.

Search — Find Product by SKU

Looks up a single product's carbon footprint by SKU. Use it to enrich records elsewhere, or as a guard before sending anything.

It takes one input — Product SKU — and returns nothing at all when the SKU has no completed assessment. That makes it a natural filter: add a Zapier Filter step after it and only continue if a result was found.

Output fields

Field	Description
`sku`	The product SKU
`product_name`	Product name as it appears in Zilch
`total_kg_co2e`	Total carbon footprint in kg CO₂e
`materials_kg`, `packaging_kg`, `decoration_kg`, `transport_kg`, `manufacturing_kg`	The footprint broken down by stage — each directly mappable into later steps
`last_calculated_at`	When the assessment was last run
`results_url`	Link to the full interactive results page — safe to share publicly
`pdf_url`	Permanent link to the PDF report — safe to share or embed

Unlike the send action, the SKU lookup also works while your account is on a free trial.

Example Zaps

1. Shopify order → footprint report to the customer

The most common setup. Two steps, no filter needed.

Trigger:  Shopify — New Paid Order
Action:   Zilch — Send Product Report to Customer
            Customer Email   → Email
            Customer Name    → Customer First Name
            Order Reference  → Order Number
            Line Items       → Line Items Sku / Line Items Quantity

Non-product lines like shipping are ignored automatically, so you can map the whole order without cleaning it up first.

2. Xero invoice → report sent with the paperwork

Trigger:  Xero — New Sales Invoice
Action:   Zilch — Send Product Report to Customer
            Customer Email   → Contact Email Address
            Order Reference  → Invoice Number
            Line Items       → Line Items Item Code / Line Items Quantity
            Custom Message   → "Here's the carbon footprint of your order."

3. Only send when the products are actually assessed

If your catalogue is partly assessed, check first and stay quiet otherwise:

Trigger:  HubSpot — Deal in Stage "Closed Won"
Search:   Zilch — Find Product by SKU     (SKU from the deal's line item)
Filter:   Only continue if Total kg CO2e is greater than 0
Action:   Zilch — Send Product Report to Customer

4. Keep a spreadsheet of product footprints up to date

Trigger:  Google Sheets — New Spreadsheet Row  (a row with a SKU)
Search:   Zilch — Find Product by SKU
Action:   Google Sheets — Update Spreadsheet Row
            kg CO2e     → Total kg CO2e
            PDF report  → PDF URL
            Results     → Results URL

5. Flag high-emission products to your team

Trigger:  Airtable — New Record in "Products"
Search:   Zilch — Find Product by SKU
Filter:   Only continue if Total kg CO2e is greater than 10
Action:   Slack — Send Channel Message to #sustainability

Limits

Step	Limit
Send Product Report to Customer	200 reports per 24 hours, per API key
Find Product by SKU	1,000 lookups per SKU per 24 hours
De-duplication window	24 hours on the same customer + order reference + line items

The daily send cap is a safety net: it stops a misconfigured Zap from emailing thousands of customers before anyone notices. If you have a legitimate need for a higher limit, get in touch.

Troubleshooting

What you see	What it means	Fix
Your Zilch API key is invalid or inactive	The key was rotated, or was pasted incorrectly.	Copy a fresh key from Settings → Profile → Secret API Key and reconnect the Zilch account in Zapier.
This looks like your publishable widget key	You pasted the `zlch_live_…` widget key instead of the `zlch_sk_…` secret key.	Generate a secret key under Settings → Profile → Secret API Key and reconnect.
Sending customer reports requires an active paid Starter or Pro plan	The account is on the free plan or has no active subscription.	Upgrade under Settings → Billing.
End your free trial to send customer reports	Sending is gated behind a paid subscription — a trial is not enough.	Convert the trial to a paid plan.
At least one line item (sku + quantity) is required	The line item mapping came through empty.	Check the trigger actually returns line items, and re-map the SKU and Quantity fields.
The report is missing a product	That SKU was skipped.	Check the Skipped SKUs output. Usually the SKU doesn't match Zilch exactly, or the product has no completed assessment.
Status came back as already_sent	An identical report went out within the last 24 hours.	Nothing to fix — this is the de-duplication protecting your customer from a duplicate email.
Rate limit exceeded	More than 200 reports were sent on this key in 24 hours.	Wait for the window to roll over, or contact us about a higher limit.
Report saved, but the email failed to send	The report was created but delivery failed.	Resend it from Reports → Customer Footprint Report in Zilch.

Frequently asked

Does the customer get one email per product?

No. Every line item on the order is combined into a single email with a per-product breakdown and an order total.

Can I see what Zapier has sent?

Yes. Every report sent through Zapier is saved under Reports → Customer Footprint Report in Zilch, exactly like one sent by hand.

What happens to products that aren't assessed yet?

They're skipped, and the rest of the order still gets reported. If no line item resolves, the step errors rather than sending an empty report.

How do I disconnect Zapier?

Rotate your secret key in Settings → Profile → Secret API Key. That invalidates it immediately and every Zap using it stops working — no separate revoke step needed. Your widget keeps running, because it uses a separate publishable key.

Can I use my widget key here instead?

No, and that's deliberate. The widget key is printed into your website's HTML where anyone can copy it, so it's restricted to looking up one SKU at a time. If it could also send email and export your catalogue, anyone who viewed your page source could do both.

Can I build my own integration instead?

Yes — Zapier sits on top of the same endpoints documented in the Partner API guide. If you'd rather call them directly, start there.

Need a trigger or action that doesn't exist yet? Tell us what you're trying to automate — the integration is built to be extended.