01First steps
Connect WooCommerce
From choosing how to connect to seeing the channel in the list.
WooCommerce connects two ways: authorizing from your store in one click (the recommended one) or copying into Koalab two keys you create in your WordPress. Either way, Koalab reads your catalog and writes prices and stock, and within a few minutes your store starts telling it about every product edited or deleted and every order. You don't need to install anything: the Koalab plugin is optional and brings those changes in seconds (see “The WooCommerce plugin”).
Open Channels
In the side menu, under “Channels & organization”, go to Channels. All your connections live there.
Click “Connect a channel” and choose WooCommerce
The “Where do you sell?” picker separates your own stores from marketplaces and has a search box. WooCommerce is among your own stores. First you pick the mode: “Automatic connection”, marked “Recommended”, or “Enter keys manually”. Connecting is for the owner or an admin: with another role, “Connect a channel” is off.
The quick way: automatic connection
Type a name to recognize the store (for example, “Web store”) and, in “Domain”, its address: mystore.com is enough, Koalab adds https://. Click “Connect with WooCommerce”. Your store opens: log in as an administrator if asked and click “Approve”. You come back to Koalab on your own; WooCommerce sends the keys. If your store only opens with http://, use “Enter keys manually”.
If you prefer keys: create them in your WordPress
In your WordPress, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → REST API and click “Add key”. Give it a description (for example, “Koalab”), choose your admin user and, under Permissions, Read/Write. When you generate it you'll see two keys: one starts with ck_ and the other with cs_. Copy them right then: the cs_ one is never shown again.
Mock-up: WooCommerce's REST API screen with the key just created Paste the details and test the connection
Choose “Enter keys manually” and fill in “Channel name”, “Domain”, “Client key” (the one starting with ck_) and “Secret key” (the cs_ one). Click “Test connection”: until it succeeds, “Connect channel” stays off.
Mock-up: the WooCommerce form in Koalab, with the keys notice, its two modes and the four fields Check the channel in the list
The channel shows up with its name, the platform and, below, the domain and “authorization valid”; if something drops, that line says “no connection”. Connecting doesn't bring in your products: go to Products and click “Import”, or wait for the automatic read every 6 hours, which starts once the channel has a role. If your store works in another currency than your organization, the channel isn't created and the notice offers “Connect as an independent catalog”. If Koalab can't read the currency, it doesn't create it either: try again in a few minutes.
Choose the channel's role
Either way, Koalab ends by asking “What role does this channel play?”. “Receives from Koalab”: what you change in Koalab reaches the store, and a price or stock someone changes there waits in “Pending approval”. “This channel leads”: what you change in the store comes into Koalab and goes on to your other channels; only one can lead. “Independent”: a separate catalog that shares neither products nor stock with your other channels. If you choose “Not now”, the channel shows “Role not chosen” and in the meantime receives from Koalab: if you keep changing prices in your store, those changes wait in “Pending approval”. See “Each channel's role: who leads”.
Details worth knowing
- If your WordPress uses a security plugin that blocks the REST API, allow the /wp-json/wc/v3/* routes or the connection will fail.
- The keys are stored encrypted and you can revoke them from WordPress whenever you want. Koalab notices the next time it talks to the store —at the latest in its daily check— and the channel turns to “no connection”; if the refusal repeats, whoever runs the organization gets an email to reauthorize it.
- Several WooCommerce stores? Connect each one as a separate channel. If your plan has reached its cap, the screen tells you and the connect button is locked.