Zoho CRM is a customer relationship management platform for managing leads, contacts, accounts, deals, activities, and sales workflows. The Zoho CRM connector lets your RShift Sites app read, search, create, and update CRM records through your own Zoho CRM account.
Zoho CRM is available as an app + chat connector: one shared connection that works in the project chat while you build and in your published apps.
With Zoho CRM, your app can:
- Query and display Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Deals, Tasks, Cases, Products, Quotes, and Invoices
- Search and filter records for dashboards, portals, and internal tools
- Create and update records across standard and custom CRM modules
It’s a good fit for sales dashboards, lead intake tools, customer portals, and operational apps that need live CRM data from Zoho CRM.
Common use cases and example apps
| Example app | Example prompt | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Lead intake dashboard | Use Zoho CRM and build a dashboard that shows new Leads by source, status, and owner. | Track new leads from Zoho CRM in one focused view. The app reads Leads from Zoho CRM, groups them by status, and helps sales teams prioritize follow-up. |
| Deal pipeline board | Use Zoho CRM and build a pipeline board where I can view Deals by stage and update deal status. | Manage deal movement from a custom interface. The app fetches Deals from Zoho CRM, displays them by stage, and writes updates back to the connected CRM account. |
| Account health portal | Use Zoho CRM and build an account health portal that shows Accounts, related Contacts, and recent activities. | Give teams a clear account summary backed by CRM data. The app reads Accounts, Contacts, Tasks, and Calls so account managers can review context without opening Zoho CRM. |
| Customer lookup tool | Use Zoho CRM and build a searchable customer lookup tool for Contacts and Accounts. | Create a fast internal search experience for customer records. The app searches Zoho CRM modules and displays the fields your team needs for support or sales workflows. |
| Quote and invoice tracker | Use Zoho CRM and build a tracker that lists Quotes and Invoices by customer and status. | Surface commercial records from Zoho CRM in a reporting view. The app reads Quotes and Invoices, filters by account or status, and helps teams follow up on open items. |
How to connect Zoho CRM
Workspace admins and owners can connect Zoho CRM. App + chat connectors are enabled by default on Free, Pro, and Business plans. On Enterprise plans, workspace admins and owners can manage app + chat connector availability for the workspace. You can create multiple Zoho CRM connections using different Zoho accounts, regions, or OAuth apps, which is useful for separating production and sandbox environments.
When the connection is created, Zoho CRM becomes available across all projects in the workspace. Anyone building in a project can ask RShift Sites in the project chat to link their project to it.
Prerequisites
Before connecting Zoho CRM, make sure you have:
- A Zoho CRM account
- Access to the Zoho API Console for your Zoho CRM data center to create a Server-based Application
- The data center where your Zoho account is hosted, such as United States, Europe, India, Australia, Japan, Canada, or China
- RShift Sites workspace owner or admin role
Step 1: Create a Zoho API console application
Zoho CRM uses OAuth to authorize third-party access. Create a Server-based Application in the Zoho API Console for the same data center as your Zoho CRM account to get the Client ID and Client Secret for RShift Sites.
| Zoho CRM data center | API Console URL |
|---|---|
United States (crm.zoho.com) |
api-console.zoho.com |
Europe (crm.zoho.eu) |
api-console.zoho.eu |
India (crm.zoho.in) |
api-console.zoho.in |
Australia (crm.zoho.com.au) |
api-console.zoho.com.au |
Japan (crm.zoho.jp) |
api-console.zoho.jp |
Canada (crm.zohocloud.ca) |
api-console.zohocloud.ca |
China (crm.zoho.com.cn) |
api-console.zoho.com.cn |
Open the Zoho API Console
Sign in to the Zoho API Console URL that matches your Zoho CRM data center.
Create a Server-based Application
Click Add Client or Get started, then choose Server-based Applications.
Enter application details
Fill in the application details:
- Client Name: for example,
RShift Sites Integration - Homepage URL: your app or company website URL
- Authorized Redirect URIs: add
https://api.lovable.dev/workspaces/connectors/standard/oauth/callback
Copy your credentials
Save the application, then copy the generated Client ID and Client Secret. You’ll enter both values in RShift Sites.
See Zoho’s API console documentation for more detail.
Step 2: Connect Zoho CRM to RShift Sites
Open Zoho CRM in Connectors
Go to Connectors and select Zoho CRM.
Add a connection
Click Add connection.
Enter your connection details
Fill in the connection fields:
- Display name: name the connection, for example
Zoho CRM Prod. This name is only used inside RShift Sites to identify the connection. - Data center: choose the region where your Zoho account is hosted. Check your Zoho CRM URL, for example
crm.zoho.eumeans Europe. - Client ID: the Client ID from your Zoho API console application.
- Client Secret: the Client Secret from your Zoho API console application.
Choose who can use this connection
Under Sharing, the connection is private to you by default and shows a Private label. To share it, click Share with others. Then add workspace members by email, or click Invite entire workspace to make the connection available to everyone in your RShift Sites workspace.
See Who can use connections and clients for more information.
Connect to Zoho CRM and authorize
Click Connect. The Zoho CRM authorization window opens, so make sure your browser doesn’t block pop-ups. If it does, RShift Sites redirects you instead.
Sign in to Zoho CRM if prompted, review the requested permissions, and click Accept or Allow.
You’ll be redirected back to RShift Sites with a confirmation.
When connected, anyone building in a project can ask RShift Sites in the project chat to link their project to Zoho CRM (based on configured connection-level access). Your RShift Sites apps can then read, search, create, and update CRM records through your connected Zoho CRM account.
Limitations
The Zoho CRM connector cannot:
- Support per-end-user Zoho CRM login. Each connection represents a single Zoho CRM account shared across all projects linked to it.
- Bypass Zoho CRM API limits, rate limits, or plan restrictions.
- Return record lists without explicit fields. Zoho CRM rejects list requests that omit the
fieldsparameter. - Receive Zoho CRM webhooks or real-time record-change events.
If Zoho CRM authorization is revoked from the Zoho side, or if the Zoho API console application is deleted or changed, you’ll need to reconnect the integration in RShift Sites before API calls can succeed again.
Manage your {connector_0} connection
Connections are managed from Connectors: select {connector_0}, then open the connection.
- Unlink projects to remove {connector_0} access from specific projects while keeping the connection available for others. See Unlink projects from a connection for the steps.
- Delete the connection to remove it from the workspace entirely. Deleting is permanent. It removes the credentials from all linked projects, and app features that use {connector_0} stop working until a new connection is added. See Delete a connection for the steps and who can delete.