# API

An API is a fixed, agreed way for two programs to talk to each other, so they can fetch and send data without a person in between.

Source: https://ibenta.no/en/glossary/api
Publisher: Ibenta (https://ibenta.no)
Updated: 2026-09-27

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Think of an API as the hatch at a café. You do not walk into the kitchen. You order at the hatch, from a menu, and get back what you asked for. When your website takes card payments, shows a map or adds a new customer to another system, it nearly always happens through an API.

## When it becomes your concern

As soon as you have two systems that ought to talk to each other. A contact form that puts the enquiry straight into your [CRM system](/en/glossary/crm), or an online store that updates the stock in your accounts. Without an API, you are the one copying between two windows. With an API, the job can be done by an [integration](/en/glossary/integration).

An API is also a question of who is in charge. The supplier can change it, charge for it or shut it down. And a system without an API is a dead end the day you want to connect something to it.

## Check this before you buy your next system

If you are choosing a new booking, accounting or customer system, search for its name plus "API" or "integrations". If you find a public documentation page, other systems can be connected later. If you find nothing, ask the supplier directly before you sign.