Tutorial: Build Your First Integration
This hands-on tutorial walks you through connecting your first data source to Carfluence, from creating a dealer to seeing your inventory appear.
Prerequisites
- •A Carfluence account with admin access
- •A data source that can push files via SFTP (or a sample CSV file for testing)
Part 1: Create Your Dealer
First, add a dealership to your account:
bash
curl -X POST https://app.carfluence.io/api/v1/dealers \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"name": "Demo Motors",
"address": "100 Test Drive",
"city": "Austin",
"state": "TX",
"zip": "78701",
"phone": "(555) 000-1234"
}'Save the id from the response — you'll need it next.
Part 2: Create an Integration
bash
curl -X POST https://app.carfluence.io/api/v1/integrations \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"dealershipId": "<dealer-id-from-step-1>",
"type": "custom",
"name": "Demo CSV Feed"
}'Save the SFTP credentials from the response.
Part 3: Prepare a Sample CSV
Create a file called inventory.csv:
csv
VIN,Stock,Year,Make,Model,Trim,Price,Mileage,Color,Type
1HGCM82633A004352,A001,2024,Honda,Accord,EX-L,32999,15234,Black,Sedan
5YJSA1E21MF123456,A002,2024,Tesla,Model 3,Long Range,44990,8500,White,Sedan
1FTEW1E85NFA12345,A003,2023,Ford,F-150,XLT,48750,22100,Blue,TruckPart 4: Upload via SFTP
bash
sftp -P 2222 <username>@app.carfluence.io
put inventory.csv
exitPart 5: Configure Field Mappings
Map your CSV headers to Carfluence fields:
bash
curl -X PATCH https://app.carfluence.io/api/v1/mappings/<integration-id> \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"mappings": {
"VIN": "vin",
"Stock": "stock_number",
"Year": "year",
"Make": "make",
"Model": "model",
"Trim": "trim",
"Price": "price",
"Mileage": "mileage",
"Color": "exterior_color",
"Type": "body_style"
}
}'Part 6: Verify the Sync
Check your inventory:
bash
curl https://app.carfluence.io/api/v1/inventory \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>"You should see your 3 vehicles with all fields normalized and ready to query.
Part 7: Explore the Dashboard
Open your Carfluence dashboard and navigate to:
- 1Inventory — see your vehicles in the table view
- 2Integrations — check the sync log for your feed
- 3AI Assistant — try asking "How many vehicles do I have?"
Congratulations! You've built your first integration.