FFP Guides

ServiceM8 how-to

Who builds a private ServiceM8 add-on for one account?

You can, with ServiceM8's Addon Kit and an API key, and no developer account. If you would rather not, a certified developer from ServiceM8's developer directory, or FFP Digital in Ipswich QLD, which builds and finishes private add-ons at a fixed price quoted after a 15 minute call, phone 0459 567 884. ServiceM8 Support will not troubleshoot the toolkit either way.

Last checked 4 Nov 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

ServiceM8 private add-on developer: your three options

A private add-on is one that lives in your ServiceM8 account and nobody else's. ServiceM8 has made it possible to build one without a developer account: the Addon Kit deploys a Simple Function that ServiceM8 hosts and activates on the account you logged in with, and an API key from Settings covers a script with no buttons. That leaves three ways to get one built. Build it yourself, with the kit and a coding assistant. Hire one of the certified developers on ServiceM8's developer directory. Or hand it to FFP Digital in Ipswich, Queensland, which finishes add-ons other people started as often as it builds new ones, at a fixed price quoted after a 15 minute call.

Partly

Partly. ServiceM8 supplies the parts: an Add-on SDK with a manifest for buttons and menu items, the Addon Kit command line tool, Simple Function add-ons that ServiceM8 hosts, and API keys for a private integration that needs no developer account. What it does not supply is anyone to fix it: ServiceM8 Support is not able to provide how to guidance or troubleshoot issues with the toolkit. So the developer is you, a listed ServiceM8 developer, or FFP.

Step by step

  1. Decide which of the two private shapes you need. A private integration is a script that talks to the REST API with an API key from Settings, API Keys, with no button in ServiceM8. An SDK add-on adds buttons or menu items to the ServiceM8 screens, described in a manifest file, and runs as a Simple Function that ServiceM8 hosts or as a web service you host.
  2. For a script, create the API key under Settings, API Keys, and send it in the X-API-Key header. ServiceM8's documentation says private applications are for connecting to your own account and do not need a Developer account.
  3. For an add-on, install the Addon Kit (an npm package, @servicem8/addon-kit), run init to scaffold it, login to authorise, and deploy. ServiceM8 says deploy validates, bundles, deploys and activates the add-on on the authenticated ServiceM8 account, as a ServiceM8 hosted Simple Function, with no AWS account to set up.
  4. Keep secrets out of the code with the kit's secret put, secret list and secret delete commands, and use tail to stream the add-on's live logs while you test.
  5. If you are handing it to someone else, write the brief as four lines: what screen the button sits on, what it reads, what it writes or sends, and what should happen when the data is not what you expected (no photo, skipped form question).
  6. Choose the builder. ServiceM8's developer directory lists certified ServiceM8 developers, independent consultants who charge for their services. FFP Digital reads what you have, tells you in a 15 minute call whether it is an afternoon's fix or a rebuild, and quotes a fixed price either way.
  7. Before paying, agree on the handover: the add-on is installed in your account, you hold the API key or developer login and can revoke it, and you get one page saying what it reads, what it writes and what to do if it stops.

Gotchas

  • Deploy goes to the account that is logged in. There is no build here, install there, so a developer building a private add-on for you works inside your account, with access you can remove afterwards.
  • ServiceM8 Support does not cover the Addon Kit. The documentation sends questions to the Developer section of the ServiceM8 Community and says replies and solutions are not guaranteed.
  • A private add-on is not reviewed by anyone. The add-on store's rules (OAuth 2.0 only, help documentation, a monitored support email, a privacy policy, at least three screenshots) apply to listed add-ons, so none of those checks happen on yours unless you ask for them.
  • An add-on built by a coding assistant works on the example you gave it. Real jobs are messier, and the last part of any build is handling the job with no photos or the form with a skipped question.
  • The add-on runs with access to your account. Someone has to be able to say what it reads, what it writes and where anything it sends ends up.
  • Nobody is told when it stops. A field renamed, an expired key or a job in an unexpected shape stops the add-on silently, and the office finds out when a customer asks.

What the official help article misses: It documents the commands and stops. Nothing on what to do when the add-on stops working, how to hand one to another person safely, or how to decide whether a job is a script with an API key or an add-on with a button. Read the Addon Kit article.

What ServiceM8 gives you to build it yourself

ServiceM8's developer documentation sets out two private shapes. The simplest is a private integration: connect to the REST API with an API key, which ServiceM8 describes as suited to one off integrations or scripts developed for one company, and which needs no Developer account. The second is an add-on built on the Add-on SDK, where a manifest file specifies the buttons or menu items and tells ServiceM8 how to invoke the code. That code can be a Simple Function, where ServiceM8 says you provide the function and it manages everything else, or a web service you host that receives each event as a signed JWT.

The Addon Kit is the command line tool that joins the two. It scaffolds the add-on, logs in by browser OAuth or an API key, bundles TypeScript and npm dependencies into a Simple Function, manages secrets, streams live logs, and deploys. ServiceM8's own page links a plain English walkthrough for building one with an AI coding assistant. For a small tool on your own account that touches nothing outside ServiceM8, that is the cheapest path and you learn something about your data on the way.

Where building it yourself runs out

The same documentation says ServiceM8 Support is not able to provide how to guidance or troubleshoot issues with the toolkit, and that community replies are not guaranteed. So the moment it breaks, you are the developer. The add-ons worth paying someone for are the ones where that is not acceptable: it talks to Xero, a CRM or a supplier as well as ServiceM8; it produces a document a customer, an insurer or an auditor relies on; it runs on a schedule when nobody is watching; or it got most of the way and then stopped, which is usually the error handling a coding assistant is least good at.

Who to hire, and what to ask them for

ServiceM8 keeps a developer directory of certified ServiceM8 developers, independent consultants who charge for their services, with entries in Brisbane, Mount Gravatt and the Gold Coast among the Queensland ones. Any of them can build an add-on. The questions that sort a good quote from a bad one are the same whoever you ring: will it be installed in my account with access I can revoke, will it be tested on my real jobs including the odd ones, will failures be logged somewhere I can read, and will I get a page that says what it reads and writes.

FFP Digital's version of that: read what you have and what it was meant to do, say in a 15 minute call whether it is an afternoon's fix or a rebuild, quote a fixed price, finish it, test it against your real jobs, add logging, install it using partner access or a staff login you remove afterwards, and leave you a one page note. You keep everything. Care at $252 a month is there if you want someone watching it when ServiceM8 changes something underneath.

What a private add-on is not

It is not a store add-on. ServiceM8's add-on store requirements, including OAuth 2.0 authentication, help documentation, a monitored support email, a privacy policy and three screenshots, apply to add-ons listed for other businesses to install. A private add-on skips all of that, which is why it is fast to ship and why nobody has checked it. If the thing you want is for other ServiceM8 businesses too, that is a public add-on, a different project with a developer account and ServiceM8's review.

Sources

  1. ServiceM8 describes a Private Integration as connecting to the REST API with an API Key, suited to one off integrations or scripts developed for one company; an Add-on SDK add-on is described in a Manifest file that specifies buttons or menu items; a Simple Function add-on is one where you provide the function code and ServiceM8 manages everything else; a Web Service Hosted add-on receives events as a JWT signed with the App Secret. ServiceM8 Developer Documentation, checked 4 Nov 2026.
  2. The Addon Kit is a command line tool for building, testing and deploying ServiceM8 add-ons, installed as the npm package @servicem8/addon-kit, version 1.2.0; deploy validates, bundles, deploys and activates the add-on on the authenticated ServiceM8 account as a ServiceM8 hosted Simple Function; it has secret and tail commands; it links a walkthrough titled Create a private ServiceM8 Add-on with AI; ServiceM8 Support is not able to provide how to guidance or troubleshoot issues with the toolkit, and community replies and solutions are not guaranteed. ServiceM8 Developer Documentation, checked 4 Nov 2026.
  3. API keys are created under Settings, API Keys and sent in an X-API-Key header; private applications are for connecting to your own ServiceM8 account and do not need a Developer account; public applications use OAuth 2.0 with access tokens that expire after 3600 seconds. ServiceM8 Developer Documentation, checked 4 Nov 2026.
  4. Add-ons listed in the ServiceM8 add-on store must use OAuth 2.0 (HTTP Basic Auth add-ons are not listed), include help documentation, provide an actively monitored support email, link a privacy policy, include at least three screenshots, and not request more data or permissions than required. ServiceM8 Developer Documentation, checked 4 Nov 2026.
  5. ServiceM8's developer directory lists certified ServiceM8 Developers, independent consultants who charge for their services, including Cloud Imperial in Brisbane, Get In the Cloud Solutions in Mount Gravatt and The 2 Kims on the Gold Coast. ServiceM8, checked 4 Nov 2026.
  6. FFP Digital, Ipswich QLD, tells you in a 15 minute call whether a private add-on is an afternoon's fix or a rebuild and quotes a fixed price either way; Care at $252 a month covers monitoring and fixes when ServiceM8 changes something underneath it; phone 0459 567 884. FFP Digital, checked 4 Nov 2026.