How to Integrate Retool with Zocdoc

Zocdoc's REST API is not a fully open public API — it is designed for healthcare technology partners building practice management integrations. To obtain API access, your practice or your development team needs to apply through Zocdoc's developer program. Navigate to developers.zocdoc.com and review the available documentation and partner enrollment process. The application typically requires providing information about your practice, your use case, and the systems you are integrating with. Once approved as a partner, Zocdoc will issue you API credentials specific to your organization. The credential format and authentication mechanism may vary by partner tier and integration type — Zocdoc has historically used both API key-based and OAuth-based authentication for different partner programs. Your Zocdoc account manager or the developer support team will provide the exact credential format, the base URL for your environment (Zocdoc maintains separate sandbox and production environments for partners), and the documentation specific to your access tier. For practices that do not have partner API access yet, Zocdoc provides several data access alternatives worth knowing. First, Zocdoc's provider portal supports appointment data export in CSV format — this can be imported into Retool Database on a scheduled basis using a Retool Workflow that processes uploaded CSV files. Second, Zocdoc may configure webhook notifications for your practice that push appointment events to a Retool webhook endpoint, enabling near-real-time data ingestion without polling the API. Third, some practice management software vendors (e.g., those that have their own Zocdoc partner integrations) expose Zocdoc data through their own APIs, which Retool can query directly. For this guide, assume you have received API credentials from Zocdoc's partner program. The following steps configure a standard Bearer token REST API integration, which reflects the most common partner authentication pattern. If your credentials use a different auth mechanism (API key header, Basic Auth, OAuth), the Retool resource configuration will differ slightly but the query structure remains the same.

Before creating the Retool resource, store your Zocdoc API credentials securely using Retool's Configuration Variables system. This step is especially important for healthcare-adjacent integrations where credential exposure has both security and compliance implications. Navigate to your Retool instance's Settings page — click the gear icon in the bottom-left corner of the Retool home page, then select Configuration Variables from the left navigation. Click Add Variable to create the following variables, marking each as Secret: - Name: ZOCDOC_API_KEY — Value: paste your Zocdoc API key or access token - Name: ZOCDOC_BASE_URL — Value: paste the Zocdoc API base URL provided by your account manager (e.g., https://api.zocdoc.com/v1 or your sandbox URL) - If Zocdoc uses OAuth: ZOCDOC_CLIENT_ID and ZOCDOC_CLIENT_SECRET Variables marked as Secret are encrypted at rest and are only injected server-side during query execution — they are never exposed in browser network traffic or the Retool frontend. This is an important HIPAA-relevant consideration: even if the Zocdoc API itself doesn't return PHI directly, keeping credentials strictly server-side prevents unauthorized API access through credential exposure. After saving all variables, confirm they appear in the Configuration Variables list with a lock icon indicating secret status. You will reference these as {{ environment.variables.ZOCDOC_API_KEY }} in your resource configuration. The Configuration Variables system also supports per-environment values — if Zocdoc has issued you separate sandbox and production credentials, set the sandbox credentials for your Retool staging environment and production credentials for your Retool production environment.

Navigate to the Resources tab in Retool (top navigation bar on the Retool home page) and click the blue Add Resource button. In the resource type selector, scroll through the list or search for 'REST API' — Zocdoc does not have a dedicated native connector, so select the generic REST API option. Fill in the resource configuration form: - Name: enter 'Zocdoc API' for easy identification throughout Retool - Base URL: enter {{ environment.variables.ZOCDOC_BASE_URL }} or paste the base URL directly. The base URL format is typically https://api.zocdoc.com/v1 or similar — use the exact URL provided by Zocdoc's partner team, as it may include a version path segment or subdomain specific to your account tier - Authentication: In the Headers section, click Add Header. Set the key field to Authorization and the value field to Bearer {{ environment.variables.ZOCDOC_API_KEY }}. If Zocdoc uses a different auth mechanism (X-API-Key header), set the key to X-API-Key and the value to {{ environment.variables.ZOCDOC_API_KEY }} instead - If your integration uses Basic Auth: switch the Authentication dropdown to Basic Auth and enter the username and password fields using your configuration variable references In the Additional Headers section, add a Content-Type header set to application/json and an Accept header set to application/json — these are standard for REST APIs and ensure Zocdoc returns JSON responses rather than other formats. Leave other settings at their defaults. Click Save Changes. The Zocdoc API resource now appears in your Resources list. Retool will inject the Authorization header into every query using this resource automatically, proxying all requests server-side through Retool's backend — no Zocdoc credentials ever reach the browser.

With the Zocdoc resource configured, create your core data queries. Open or create a Retool app, navigate to the Code panel at the bottom, and click + New to create the first query. For the appointments query: - Resource: Zocdoc API - Method: GET - Path: /appointments (or the exact path from Zocdoc's partner documentation — common patterns include /providers/{providerId}/appointments or /practices/{practiceId}/appointments) - URL Parameters: date={{ datePicker1.value }} for filtering by date, status=confirmed to show only confirmed bookings, limit=100 - Trigger: On page load and when the date picker value changes The response structure varies by Zocdoc's API version and your partner tier, but typically returns an array of appointment objects with fields like appointment_id, patient_name, appointment_type, start_time, end_time, status, insurance_carrier, and provider_id. Drag a Table component onto the canvas and set its Data Source to {{ appointmentsQuery.data }} or {{ appointmentsQuery.data.appointments }} depending on whether Zocdoc wraps the array in an object key — inspect the raw response in the query's Response tab to confirm. For the provider availability query: - Resource: Zocdoc API - Method: GET - Path: /providers/{providerId}/availability or /slots/available - URL Parameters: start_date={{ dateRange.start }}, end_date={{ dateRange.end }}, provider_id={{ providerSelect.value }} - Trigger: Manual — fire when the user selects a provider and date range Drag a Select component to let users choose a provider from a list. Populate the Select's data from a separate query that fetches /providers for your practice — set the Select label to the provider name field and value to the provider_id field. Add a JavaScript transformer to reshape the appointments data for the Table component, formatting timestamps and extracting relevant fields from any nested objects in Zocdoc's response.

1// JavaScript transformer for Zocdoc appointments
2// Reshapes API response for Retool Table component
3// Adjust field names to match your Zocdoc partner API response structure
4const appointments = data.appointments || data || [];
5return appointments.map(appt => ({
6  id: appt.appointment_id || appt.id,
7  patient: appt.patient_name || appt.patient?.full_name || 'N/A',
8  type: appt.appointment_type || appt.visit_type || 'N/A',
9  provider: appt.provider_name || appt.provider?.display_name || 'N/A',
10  start_time: appt.start_time
11    ? new Date(appt.start_time).toLocaleTimeString([], { hour: '2-digit', minute: '2-digit' })
12    : 'N/A',
13  status: appt.status || 'unknown',
14  insurance: appt.insurance_carrier || appt.insurance?.name || 'N/A',
15  zocdoc_id: appt.appointment_id || appt.id
16}));

With appointment data flowing, extend the dashboard to include patient reviews and a cross-reference with your internal practice management system. Patient reviews are a critical operational metric for Zocdoc-listed practices since they directly affect new patient acquisition through search rankings. Create a reviews query: - Resource: Zocdoc API - Method: GET - Path: /providers/{providerId}/reviews or /reviews (check your partner documentation) - URL Parameters: provider_id={{ providerSelect.value }}, page=1, per_page=50, sort=created_desc - Trigger: Manual, fires when provider is selected Drag a second Table component below the appointments table. Set its Data Source to the reviews query, displaying columns for review date, star rating, and review excerpt. In the Table's column settings, configure the rating column type as a custom format that displays stars visually using the text ★★★★☆ pattern based on the rating value — set column type to Text and use a transformer that converts numeric ratings to star strings. Add Statistic components (drag from Component panel) at the top of the dashboard showing: average review score for the selected provider, total number of reviews, and number of reviews in the past 30 days. Wire each Stat component's value to a JavaScript transformer that calculates the metric from the reviews query data. To cross-reference with internal data, create a query targeting your practice's internal database (PostgreSQL or MySQL resource). Pull patient records or appointment history that you want to display alongside Zocdoc data. Use a JavaScript transformer to join the two datasets by patient email or a common identifier if available — this gives front-desk staff a unified view showing the Zocdoc booking data next to the patient's internal record. For practices handling sensitive patient information, ensure your Retool app uses row-level permissions — configure Retool Groups to restrict which team members can see which data. Use Retool's query filter pattern WHERE provider_id = {{ retoolContext.currentUser.groups[0] }} to limit each user to only seeing their own provider's data if needed. For complex integrations combining Zocdoc with full EHR systems, custom permission models, and HIPAA-compliant audit logging, RapidDev's team can help architect the complete Retool solution.

1// Standalone transformer: providerReviewStats
2// Calculates review statistics from Zocdoc reviews query data
3const reviews = reviewsQuery.data?.reviews || reviewsQuery.data || [];
4if (reviews.length === 0) return { avg_rating: 'N/A', total: 0, last_30_days: 0 };
5
6const thirtyDaysAgo = new Date();
7thirtyDaysAgo.setDate(thirtyDaysAgo.getDate() - 30);
8
9const recentReviews = reviews.filter(r => new Date(r.created_at) >= thirtyDaysAgo);
10const avgRating = reviews.reduce((sum, r) => sum + (r.rating || r.star_rating || 0), 0) / reviews.length;
11
12return {
13  avg_rating: avgRating.toFixed(1),
14  total: reviews.length,
15  last_30_days: recentReviews.length,
16  five_star_pct: Math.round(
17    (reviews.filter(r => (r.rating || r.star_rating) === 5).length / reviews.length) * 100
18  )
19};