Integration guide

Connecting Cliniko to Recoup

Recoup connects to Cliniko with one API key. Most practices are connected and syncing in under ten minutes, and the ACC setup that follows takes an afternoon.

Last updated 5 October 2026

In short

Create a Cliniko API key, paste it into Recoup, and Recoup syncs your practice every hour. It reads your clinics, practitioners, appointment types, appointments, patients and invoices. It only writes to Cliniko when you ask it to.

1. Create a Cliniko API key

  1. Sign in to Cliniko as the user Recoup should connect as. An administrator is best: Recoup can only see what that user can see, so a user without access to appointments, invoices or patients gives Recoup an incomplete picture.
  2. Open My info (your name, top right), then Manage API keys.
  3. Choose Add an API key, name it "Recoup", and copy the key. Cliniko shows the key only once.

Keep the key private. Anyone who holds it can read your practice's Cliniko data. You can revoke it in Cliniko at any time, which stops Recoup syncing straight away.

2. Connect it to Recoup

  • New practice: paste the key when you sign up. Recoup checks it with Cliniko before it creates your account.
  • Existing practice, or a new key: in Recoup go to Settings → Our practice → Practice, paste the key under Cliniko API key and press Check & save key.

Recoup stores the key encrypted and never shows it again. Your data is held in a private space for your practice, hosted in Sydney.

3. What syncs, and how often

The first sync pulls six months of history and usually finishes within the hour. After that Recoup syncs every hour, picking up only what has changed. An admin can press Sync now on the appointment book or in Settings → Data & sync to see a change straight away, and can re-fetch further back in time from the same place.

Recoup reads:

  • businesses (each clinic location)
  • practitioners, including inactive ones
  • appointment types
  • appointments, including cancelled, did-not-arrive and deleted ones, so counts match Cliniko
  • patients, including archived ones
  • invoices and invoice items, including deleted invoices

Recoup does not copy your treatment notes into its own database. When you open Notes or a patient's file, it asks Cliniko live whether each visit's note is done or still a draft, and shows previous notes straight from Cliniko. When you write a letter, it can search your Cliniko contacts (GPs, specialists) for the address.

4. What Recoup writes to Cliniko

Nothing changes in Cliniko unless you ask. Recoup writes in three places, each one switched on deliberately:

  • Treatment notes you save. A note drafted in Recoup is saved into Cliniko only when the practitioner presses Save, and is filed as theirs.
  • A copy of each lodged ACC45 into the patient's treatment notes. Off by default; switch it on in Settings → Our practice → Practice.
  • An ACC claim summary on appointment notes (claim number, treatments used and left), written overnight. Off by default; switch it on in the same place.

Recoup never creates, edits or deletes appointments, patients or invoices in Cliniko.

5. Set up the ACC side

Once the first sync has run, an admin completes this in Recoup's Settings. The Getting started card on the dashboard tracks each step.

  1. Clinics: for each clinic, add its ACC vendor ID, ACC contract number and GST number.
  2. ACC certificate: upload your ACC digital certificate (.p12 or .pfx) and assign it to each clinic.
  3. Practitioners: add each practitioner's ACC provider number and discipline.
  4. Appointment types: tick which types are ACC, and set each one's ACC service code (for example PT01, PT02).
  5. Team: invite each practitioner to Recoup and link them to their Cliniko practitioner record.

6. Each practitioner's own key (optional)

To save treatment notes into Cliniko as themselves, each practitioner adds their own Cliniko API key under My details → Cliniko key for notes, created the same way as in step 1 but signed in as themselves. Cliniko files a note under the owner of the key, so a shared practice key would file every note under one person.

7. Bringing your history across (optional)

Moving from another ACC system? In Settings → Data & sync you can import your existing claim list, so in-flight treatments carry over, and your past ACC payment reports, so your income and money owing are complete from day one. We help with this as part of onboarding.

8. Disconnecting

Revoke the API key in Cliniko (My info → Manage API keys) and Recoup stops syncing immediately. To have your Recoup data exported or deleted, email us — see our Privacy policy.

Need a hand?

Email support@recoup.nz or book a demo and we'll connect it with you. Inside Recoup, the ? button answers setup questions any time.