Epic API integration guide: open.epic, Showroom and per-customer approval

The short answer

Epic's APIs are free and well documented, but you never integrate with "Epic". You integrate with each Epic customer. You register your app once, then every health system decides whether to turn it on in its own environment. The commercial work is winning those customers, not getting past Epic.

The flavors to tell apart

• A health system's own Epic instance. Most Epic customers run their own environment, so your app is approved per organization.
• Community Connect. A larger health system hosts Epic for affiliated practices. The practice usually depends on the host organization to authorize apps, so the host's IT team is your real counterparty.
• FHIR versions. R4 is primary. Epic still exposes STU3 and DSTU2 for some resources, which matters for scheduling (below).

How access works

1. Create an Epic on FHIR account and register your app. You get non-production and production client IDs.
2. Build against the public sandbox, then mark the app ready for production.
3. Each customer approves. The health system signs Epic's open.epic API subscription agreement once, then downloads and approves your app. Confidential clients, refresh tokens and backend OAuth need per-customer keys you provision.
4. Optional: Vendor Services. A membership with extra support, an expanded sandbox and more documentation. Epic doesn't require it to use open.epic APIs.

Epic states it doesn't endorse or verify developers or their software. Approval is the customer's call.

Showroom and listings

Epic's Showroom replaced the old App Orchard. A Connection Hub listing is optional and self-attested, and typically follows your first live customer connection. Toolbox designation covers selected product categories at Epic's discretion, and requesting it requires Vendor Services. Epic reported over 1,000 apps in Showroom in April 2026.

What the APIs cover

What it costs

Epic states open.epic APIs are free to app developers. Epic doesn't publish Vendor Services pricing on the pages we read.

Our take

Treat Epic as an enterprise sale with a free API attached. Pick your first health system before you pick your endpoints, because its analysts, security review and build calendar set your timeline. Build scheduling against what Epic documents today ($book on STU3) and confirm with the customer what they'll enable. For ambulatory practices on Community Connect, get the host organization in the room early.

FAQ

Is the Epic API free?

Epic states its open.epic APIs are free to app developers. Optional Vendor Services membership is separate.

Do I need Epic's approval to go live?

You need each customer's approval. The health system signs Epic's API agreement once and then approves your app in its own environment.

Can you book appointments in Epic through FHIR?

Epic documents Appointment $find and $book on its STU3 FHIR API. On R4, Appointment is listed as read and search.

Sources

Public pages, accessed 11 Oct 2026: Epic on FHIR · Epic on FHIR documentation · open.epic · Epic Vendor Services · Epic launches Connection Hub · Open@Epic 2026