The Complete Guide to Integrating Acuity Scheduling and Trello for Scheduling + Project Management workflows.
Stop manually shuttling data. Connect your system of record directly to your workflow to automate booking fulfillment & task automation in real-time. This guide details the architecture of passing payloads natively between Acuity Scheduling and Trello.
Integration Architecture
Acuity Scheduling
Trigger AppFunctions as the primary system of record. The Scheduling automation begins when an event initially takes place here.
Trello
Action AppThe destination workflow. Automatically funneling data into Trello rapidly accelerates your project management processes without needing manual CSV exports.
Why Integrate Acuity Scheduling and Trello?
For many service businesses—such as photography studios, consulting firms, tutoring centers, and salons—an appointment booked on a calendar is just the beginning of a complex operational workflow. Before the client ever arrives, preparation must occur: intake forms must be reviewed, resources must be allocated, and preliminary research completed. After the appointment, follow-up tasks like sending invoices, editing photos, or drafting summary reports must be tracked to completion. Managing these pre- and post-appointment workflows inside a calendar app like Acuity Scheduling is impossible; calendars track time, not tasks. Integrating Acuity Scheduling with Trello solves this by translating chronological events into a visual Kanban workflow. When a client books an appointment via your Acuity link, the integration instantly generates a new Trello card on your 'Service Fulfillment' board. This card is automatically populated with the client's name, appointment date, and all the custom answers they provided during the booking process. Your team can then drag this card through custom lists—such as 'Preparation', 'In Session', 'Post-Processing', and 'Completed'—ensuring that every single operational task required to service that client is tracked visually and nothing falls through the cracks.
Top Use Cases
Automated Job Board Creation
This is the core operational use case. Instead of a receptionist manually reviewing the Acuity calendar every morning and writing down tasks on sticky notes, the integration automates the job queue. The moment an Acuity booking is confirmed, a new Trello card is created in the 'New Bookings' list. The card title is automatically formatted (e.g., 'Consultation - [Client Name]'), the due date is set to the appointment time, and the card description is populated with all contact information and intake questionnaire answers.
Service-Specific Task Checklists
Different appointment types require different preparation. Using middleware routing or Trello's Butler automation, you can apply conditional logic to the incoming Acuity data. If a client books a 'New Client Assessment', the integration automatically attaches a specific 'Onboarding Checklist' (e.g., Review intake form, Create client folder, Send welcome email) to the newly generated Trello card. If they book a 'Follow-up Call', a different checklist is applied. This guarantees standard operating procedures (SOPs) are followed for every service type.
Team Assignment and Resource Allocation
If your Acuity setup allows clients to choose a specific staff member (e.g., picking a specific hair stylist or consultant), that data can be utilized in Trello. The integration reads which calendar was booked in Acuity and automatically assigns the corresponding team member to the newly created Trello card. This immediately notifies the staff member of their new booking and ensures their personal Trello task list accurately reflects their upcoming workload.
Post-Appointment Workflow Tracking
The appointment itself is often just a milestone. For a photographer, the 'Photoshoot' appointment triggers the 'Editing' phase. By dragging the Trello card from 'Scheduled' to 'Post-Processing' after the appointment concludes, you trigger downstream workflows. You can configure Trello to automatically add a new due date (e.g., 7 days after the shoot) and assign the card to the editing team, ensuring the post-service deliverables are tracked as rigorously as the initial booking.
Connection Capabilities
Prerequisites
- An active Trello account with a dedicated board created for service fulfillment.
- An active Acuity Scheduling account (Emerging tier or higher is required for API access).
- A middleware platform (such as Zapier or Make) to handle the data mapping, as there is no native Acuity Power-Up for Trello.
Step-by-Step Implementation Guide
Design the Trello Kanban Workflow
Before configuring the integration, you must build the Trello board that will receive the data. Create a new board titled 'Service Pipeline' (or similar). Create sequential lists representing your workflow stages. A standard setup includes: 'New Bookings', 'Preparation Required', 'Ready for Appointment', 'Post-Appointment Follow-up', and 'Completed'. The integration will dump all new Acuity bookings into the first list ('New Bookings'), and your team will manually drag the cards to the right as work is completed.
Set Up the Middleware Trigger
Log into your automation platform (e.g., Zapier) and create a new workflow. Select Acuity Scheduling as the trigger app and choose the 'New Appointment' event. Connect your Acuity account. If you only want specific appointment types to go to Trello (e.g., only 'VIP Consultations'), select that specific calendar or appointment type in the trigger settings. Pull a sample appointment into the workflow so you have test data containing all your custom intake form answers.
Configure the Trello 'Create Card' Action
Add a new action step and select Trello. Choose the 'Create Card' event. Authenticate your Trello account. In the setup menu, select the specific Board you created in Step 1, and select the 'New Bookings' List as the destination. Now, begin mapping the data. For the 'Name' of the card, map the Acuity dynamic fields for '[First Name] [Last Name] - [Appointment Type]'. This ensures the cards are easily identifiable at a glance.
Map Intake Data to the Card Description
The most valuable part of the integration is moving the intake data. In the 'Description' field of the Trello action step, you can format the text using markdown. Create headers like 'Contact Info:' and map the Acuity email and phone number tokens beneath it. Create another header like 'Intake Answers:' and systematically map every custom question from your Acuity form (e.g., 'Reason for booking:', 'Website URL:') directly into the description. This centralizes all context on the card back.
Map Due Dates and Attachments
In the same Trello action step, locate the 'Due Date' field and map the Acuity 'Appointment Start Time' token to it. This ensures the Trello calendar view accurately reflects your appointments. If your Acuity intake form requires clients to upload files (e.g., a photo or a PDF document), map the Acuity 'File Upload URL' to the 'URL Attachment' field in Trello. This will automatically attach the client's files directly to the Trello card, preventing staff from having to hunt for them in Acuity.
Test the Workflow and Train the Team
Turn the automation on and submit a test booking through your public Acuity link. Within seconds, a new card should appear in your 'New Bookings' Trello list. Open the card and verify that the due date is correct, the description is formatted cleanly, and any file uploads are attached. Once verified, train your staff. They must understand that Acuity is solely for managing time slots, while Trello is now the mandatory system of record for tracking the operational work associated with those time slots.
Ready to implement?
Begin by authenticating your instances. If a native integration is unavailable, utilize a webhook relay with the API credentials from both platforms.
Get Acuity Scheduling API Keys →