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Pixie Zapier integrationAutomate Pixie with Zapier.

The Pixie Zapier integration gives you 5 triggers, 6 actions and 2 searches. All five triggers are instant, the app runs on the free plan, and the client and contact actions update a record that already exists instead of creating a duplicate.

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Overview

What the Pixie Zapier integration does for your practice

Pixie is a practice management tool built for accountants and bookkeepers: clients, contacts, jobs and the team that works on them. The integration links it to Zapier, so a change in Pixie can start work in another app, and an event elsewhere can create a client, open a job or invite a colleague in Pixie, without retyping anything.

Three results people actually build. An onboarded client. A signed engagement in your form or CRM tool feeds Create/Update Client, then Add Recurring Task to Client attaches the templates your firm uses, so the recurring work exists from day one. A job that opens itself. Start Job takes a client, a job name, a deadline written in plain English and an assignee, which means a request coming from another tool lands in someone's queue with a date on it. A team that hears about finished work. Job Finished fires once every task of a job is done, a clean signal to tell the client or to update a tracker kept outside Pixie.

What Zapier does not do here: there is no action to delete a client, a contact or a job, and no trigger on a single task (only on whole jobs). Searches look up clients and contacts, not jobs. And nothing that happened in Pixie before your Zap was switched on gets replayed.

If you are weighing other automation tools for the same firm, read n8n vs Zapier before you commit to one.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Eight words you will see in the editor. Each one is explained once here, then used as is on the rest of the page.

Zap
The automation you build: one trigger, followed by one or more actions that run each time the trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is on, Zapier waits for that event and nothing else.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that creates, updates or sends something on your behalf.
Task
The unit Zapier bills. One task is one action your Zap completed successfully; the number on your plan counts those.
Polling vs instant trigger
A polling trigger is checked by Zapier on a timer. An instant trigger is reported by the app itself the moment the event occurs.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when the incoming item meets the condition you set, and stops it otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something already stored in an app, so the following steps can reuse what it found.
Connection
Your Pixie account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step of every Zap that talks to Pixie.
Cost

What a Pixie Zap really costs

Pixie is not a premium app, so it works on the free plan. The bill is counted in tasks, and only actions that go through are counted.

  • Free plan100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps, two steps per Zap
  • TriggerNever billed
  • Failed actionNot counted
  • Pixie triggers5 instant, 0 polling

The trigger never costs a task, and an action that fails is not counted either. Each successful action counts on its own: a Zap with three actions uses three times what a single-action Zap uses. The catch is the free plan, which only builds two-step Zaps (one trigger, one action). Add a second action, a filter or a search, and you have a multi-step Zap that needs a paid plan. The interval grid below is for polling triggers; every Pixie trigger is instant, so none of it slows you down here.

Connect

Connect your Pixie account in three steps

  1. 01

    Open the Apps page

    In your Zapier account, go to Apps and click + Add connection. You need a Pixie account first, with access to the clients and jobs your Zaps will touch if you do not own them.

  2. 02

    Pick Pixie and confirm

    Type Pixie in the search box of the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. A new tab then opens on the Pixie side, where the last step of the connection happens.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Log in to Pixie in that tab and allow Zapier to use the account. The connection then appears under Apps and every Pixie step can reuse it, in this Zap and the next ones.

First Zap

Your first Pixie Zap: templates for every new client

GoalWhen a client is created in Pixie, attach the recurring task templates your firm uses for that kind of client.

  1. 01

    Pick the trigger

    Build the Zap: choose Pixie as the starting app and Client Created/Updated as the event, then select your Pixie connection.

  2. 02

    Test it on a real client

    Run the trigger test. Zapier brings back the three most recent items from your account, so you map the next steps on a real client rather than on placeholder text.

  3. 03

    Add a filter

    From the plus icon, add Filter. Set the field to look at, the rule and the value. This trigger also fires on edits, so the filter is what keeps templates from being attached again after every change.

  4. 04

    Add the action

    Add Pixie with Add Recurring Task to Client. Map Client from the trigger and choose the Template; several templates go in as one comma-separated value.

  5. 05

    Test and publish

    Test the action once and read what Pixie sent back, then Publish to switch the Zap on. A filter makes it multi-step, so a paid plan is required. The Zapier training walks through filters in more depth.

Triggers

Pixie triggers: what starts your Zap

5 events start a Zap when something happens in Pixie, and 5 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

Job Assigned

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a job is assigned or reassigned to a team member.”

This one fires when a job lands on a team member, the first time or after a handover to someone else. It is the moment a piece of work changes owner, which is often what other tools need to hear about.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
notify the new owner in the chat tool your team lives in, or add the job to their personal planner, whenever a manager reshuffles the workload.
Watch out
a reassignment fires it again, so a job passed around three times starts the Zap three times and each run bills its actions.
2

Job Finished

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when all tasks of a job are completed.”

Pixie sends this event only when every task inside a job is marked done, not when a single task is ticked. That makes it a reliable “the work is delivered” signal for the whole job.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
email the client that their year-end file is ready, log the delivery in a shared spreadsheet, or ping the partner who signs off.
Watch out
one unfinished task holds the event back, so a job left with a forgotten step never reaches your Zap at all.
3

Job Started

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a job starts.”

Use it to react at the very beginning of a job, when Pixie opens it. Nothing has been assigned or finished yet, so this is the earliest point in a job's life you can catch from Zapier.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
send the client the list of documents to provide, or create a matching folder in your file storage so the team can start collecting papers.
Watch out
if another Zap opens jobs with Start Job, each of those jobs fires this trigger too, so check you are not chaining two Zaps into a loop.
4

Client Created/Updated

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new client is created or updated in Pixie.”

One name, two cases: this trigger covers: a brand new client in Pixie and any change to an existing one. Both start the same Zap, with no setting to separate them.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
keep your CRM or billing tool in line with Pixie, so a renamed client or new details show up there without a second entry.
Watch out
if the same Zap runs Create/Update Client, it edits the client, fires itself again and burns through tasks; add a filter or point the action elsewhere.
5

Contact Created/Updated

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a contact is created or updated.”

Here the subject is the person rather than the company: a contact added in Pixie, or one whose details someone edits. As with clients, creation and update are bundled into one event.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
push each client contact into your mailing tool, so newsletters and filing reminders reach the right people at each firm you serve.
Watch out
the Zap cannot tell a fresh contact from a corrected typo, so anything that should happen only once needs a filter in front of it.
Actions

Pixie actions: what your Zap can do

Pixie gives you 6 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Add/Update Contact to Client

Action

In Zapier“Create or update a contact, based on the contact ID or the contact's email already existing.”

Attaches a person to a client file in Pixie, or refreshes their details if they are already listed there, using the email as the key. Same email on the same client? Pixie updates that contact instead of adding a second one.

When to use it
a new signatory fills your onboarding form and should appear under the right client.
Watch out
Client, First Name and Email are all required, and an empty first name makes the creation fail.
2

Add Recurring Task to Client

Action

In Zapier“Creates a recurring task using the default template recurrence settings.”

Gives a client a recurring piece of work built from one of your templates, with the template's default recurrence: you only pick the client and the template, and Pixie takes care of the schedule from there.

When to use it
every new monthly bookkeeping client should get the same set of recurring jobs.
Watch out
several templates fit in one run, as long as they arrive as one value with commas between them.
3

Complete Job

Action

In Zapier“Mark an entire Job as have been completed.”

Closes an entire job in Pixie in one step, rather than ticking its tasks one by one. It only needs to know which job, through its ID mapped from an earlier step.

When to use it
the final deliverable is signed in your e-signature tool, and the job should be closed on the spot.
Watch out
without a job ID from the trigger or a previous step, this action has nothing to point at.
4

Create/Update Client

Action

In Zapier“Create or update a client, based on the Client ID or the client's name already existing.”

Creates a client in Pixie, or updates it when a client with that exact name, or that client ID, already exists. Duplicates are avoided as long as names are typed the same way.

When to use it
a deal is marked won in your sales tool and the firm should exist in Pixie straight after.
Watch out
Name and Client Manager are required when creating, so map a manager who is in your Pixie team.
5

Invite New User

Action

In Zapier“Sends an invitation on your behalf to a team member asking them to join a workspace on Pixie.”

Sends someone an invitation, in your name, to join your Pixie workspace as a team member. They still have to accept it; the Zap only takes care of sending.

When to use it
HR adds a new hire to your staff spreadsheet and the Pixie invite should follow without a manual reminder.
Watch out
First Name, Last Name and Email are all required, so a half-filled row will fail.
6

Start Job

Action

In Zapier“Starts a new job.”

Opens a new job for a client, already named, dated and given to someone. The deadline accepts plain English such as “tomorrow” or “today + 7 days”, handy when the source has no date.

When to use it
a client request arrives through a form and needs a dated owner right away.
Watch out
Client, Job Name, Deadline and Assignee are all required; leave one empty and the step fails.
Searches

Pixie searches: finding clients and contacts

2 search steps look for data that already exists in Pixie, so a later step can use it.

A search step looks up an existing client or contact so the next actions can use it. In the editor, searches sit at the bottom of the action event list, under SEARCH. Pixie offers no find-or-create variant, so three settings decide what happens after the lookup.

1

Find Client

Search

In Zapier“Finds an existing client based on the name or ID. If neither is provided, returns all clients.”

Looks up a client in Pixie by name or by ID and hands it to the following steps, typically to give Start Job the client it needs.

When to use it
an email from a client should open a job, and you only have the firm's name.
Watch out
leave both name and ID empty and the search returns every client, which is rarely what the next step expects.
2

Find Contact

Search

In Zapier“Find an existing contact.”

Retrieves a contact that already exists in Pixie, using the email address as the only way in. Email is required.

When to use it
before adding a person to a client, check whether Pixie already knows them under another client.
Watch out
a contact stored with a different email address will not be found, even if the name matches.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left on its default, a search that finds nothing stops the Zap there. Switch it on and the Zap carries on with empty values.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    This box turns a search into find-or-create. Pixie's searches do not offer it, so a missing client has to be created by a separate action.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Keep the first match (the default), stop the Zap, or pass every match on to the next steps at once.
When it breaks

When a Pixie Zap breaks

Zapier publishes no help article specific to Pixie, so the cases below come from how Zapier behaves in general and from what the Pixie operations require.

Most failures fall into one of these cases. When a run still makes no sense, the Zapier troubleshooting page covers the generic diagnosis.

  • Old clients never come through

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you switch it on. Clients and jobs already in Pixie are not picked up; moving that backlog is a separate job.

  • The Zap keeps restarting itself

    Client Created/Updated plus Create/Update Client in the same Zap is a loop: the action edits the client, which fires the trigger again and eats tasks fast.

  • Edits start the Zap too

    Both Created/Updated triggers fire on changes, not just on creation. Without a filter, fixing a typo in Pixie runs your whole onboarding Zap a second time.

  • Required fields left empty

    Start Job needs four fields and Invite New User three. A source row with a blank cell makes the action fail, and that run costs no task.

  • A bulk import goes quiet

    After a large import into Pixie, a trigger can suddenly send a huge batch at once, and Zapier's flood protection may hold those runs back.

  • The search hands over every client

    Find Client with no name and no ID returns all clients. Map at least one of the two, or the next step receives a list it cannot use.
Need help

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FAQ

Pixie and Zapier: frequent questions

01Is the Pixie Zapier integration free?
Yes, Pixie is not a premium app on Zapier, so it works on the free plan. That plan gives 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, but each Zap is limited to two steps: one trigger and one action. A Zap that adds a filter, a search or a second Pixie action, such as Create/Update Client followed by Add Recurring Task to Client, becomes multi-step and needs a paid plan. Pixie itself requires an account, which is a separate matter from your Zapier plan.
02How many tasks does a Pixie Zap use?
One task per action that completes successfully, and nothing for the trigger. A Zap that runs Start Job once uses one task per run; a Zap that runs Create/Update Client and then Add Recurring Task to Client uses two. Actions that fail, for instance because a required field such as Assignee was empty, are not counted. Watch the Created/Updated triggers: they also fire on edits, so every change to a client can bill the actions again unless a filter stops the run.
03Do Pixie triggers start the Zap instantly?
Yes, all five of them. Job Assigned, Job Finished, Job Started, Client Created/Updated and Contact Created/Updated are instant triggers: Pixie tells Zapier the moment the event happens. The polling grid, 15 minutes on the free plan, does not apply to any of them, so even a free account reacts without waiting for the next check. In the editor, a Zap built on an instant trigger shows a lightning bolt, so you can confirm it at a glance.
04What does it take to connect Pixie to Zapier?
A Pixie account, plus access to the clients and jobs your Zap will work on if you do not own them. The connection itself takes three gestures: Apps, then + Add connection, pick Pixie, sign in and grant access. Check the team side too. Create/Update Client asks for a Client Manager and Start Job for an Assignee, so the account you connect must see the team members you plan to map into those fields.
05Why does a Pixie Zap run when a client is only edited?
Because Client Created/Updated and Contact Created/Updated fire on both events, creation and update, with no option to split them. Every saved change in Pixie starts the Zap. If the Zap should only act on new clients, add a filter after the trigger and set a rule that lets only those through. Keep in mind that a filter makes the Zap multi-step, which requires a paid plan, even though Pixie itself works on the free one.
06What if the Pixie operation you need is not available?
Combine what exists. Thirteen operations are visible: five triggers, six actions and two searches. A missing step can often be rebuilt by chaining them, for example Find Client to get the client, then Start Job to open the job for it. Some things are simply not offered: no deletion of clients, contacts or jobs, no trigger on a single task, and no search on jobs. If the workflow depends on one of those, it has to be handled inside Pixie or by another tool.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Pixie?
Decide on criteria rather than on brand. First, check that the exact operations your workflow needs exist on the platform: on Zapier, that means the thirteen listed on this page. Second, count the steps: a single trigger and action fit the free plan, while anything with a filter, a search or several actions needs a paid one. Third, look at timing: on Zapier, all five Pixie triggers are instant, so even the free plan reacts without waiting for a check.
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