Cliniko Setup Integration Guide

Cliniko Setup

Connect your Cliniko practice management system to QuackChat for live appointment availability and direct booking. Cliniko's API is self-service — you generate your own key, no add-on purchase or support ticket required.

Prerequisites

• A QuackChat account on the Pro plan or above
• A Cliniko user with appointment and patient access (the API key inherits this user's permissions)
• Online bookings enabled in Cliniko for the practitioners and appointment types you want the bot to offer

Step 1: Create a Cliniko API Key

Follow Cliniko's official guide: Generate a Cliniko API key. In short:

1. Click My info (under your name, bottom-left of Cliniko)
2. Turn on "Allow yourself to create and use API keys"
3. Press Update user (you'll be asked to re-enter your password or passkey)
4. Under API keys, click Manage API keys → Add an API Key
5. Give it a name (e.g. "QuackChat") and click Create API Key
6. Copy the key immediately — Cliniko shows it only once

The API key inherits the permissions of the user who created it. Create it under a user that can view appointments and patients so booking works.

Step 2: Enable Online Bookings

The bot can only offer slots that are bookable online. In Cliniko:

1. In your online bookings settings, tick "Allow your patients to book appointments online" and save
2. Go to Settings → Users & practitioners, open each practitioner, and tick "Show this practitioner in online bookings"
3. Make sure the appointment types you want bookable are offered by those practitioners

If online bookings aren't enabled, the bot will see no availability and bookings will fail.

Step 3: Enter Credentials in QuackChat

1. Open your bot's workspace and go to Settings → Integrations
2. Start a new PMS connection and select Cliniko
3. Set the connection mode to Direct booking (or Live availability if you only want read-only availability)
4. Paste your API key into the API Key field
5. Leave Region / Shard blank — QuackChat auto-detects your region from the key's suffix (e.g. -au1, -uk1). Only fill this in if the connection test asks you to
6. Save the connection

Step 4: Test the Connection

1. Click Test Connection — a successful test shows a green "Healthy" status
2. Ask your bot about appointment availability to confirm end-to-end booking works

Troubleshooting

"Invalid Cliniko API key or insufficient permissions" (401)

• Re-check the key was pasted in full and hasn't been archived in Cliniko
• Make sure the user who created the key has appointment/patient access

"Could not determine region" / wrong shard

• Set the Region / Shard field explicitly (e.g. au1, au2, uk1) — the value is the suffix after the last hyphen in your key

Connection test passes but the bot shows no availability

• Confirm online bookings are enabled (Step 2) for the practitioners and appointment types you expect
• Check those practitioners actually have open slots in the Cliniko calendar for the dates being queried

Auto-disabled connection (5 consecutive failures)

• The connection auto-disables after 5 consecutive sync failures
• Fix the underlying issue, then re-enable it with the Active toggle and click Test Connection to verify