Circle setup

Connect your Circle community so buyers get in without you lifting a finger. When someone pays, a sequence can find or create their Circle member and add them to the spaces their purchase includes. When they’re refunded, another sequence can remove them from those spaces. A new member joining Circle can also start a Plandalf sequence.

Plandalf has no subscription-cancelled trigger yet, so a cancelled subscription doesn’t remove access on its own. Remove it in Circle, or run Remove Member from Space from a sequence you start yourself.

Before you start

• A Circle community on a plan that includes the Admin API. Circle offers it on its Business plan and above.
• Admin access to that community, to create an API token.
• The spaces you want buyers added to, already created in Circle.

Get your Circle API token

1. Open the token page

   In your Circle community, open Developers → Tokens. Only community admins can see this page.

2. Create an Admin V1 token

   Create a new token, give it a name such as “Plandalf”, and choose Admin V1 as the type. Plandalf uses Circle’s Admin API v1.

3. Copy the token

   Copy the token and keep it safe until you paste it into Plandalf.

Connect Circle to Plandalf

1. Find Circle in the Marketplace

   In Plandalf, open Automation in the sidebar and choose the Marketplace tab. Find Circle under Available now and click Connect.

2. Paste the token

   In the Connect Circle window, keep or change the Integration name and paste your token into API Key. Leave Community ID blank, then click Connect.

3. Check the result

   Plandalf checks the token with Circle and finds your community straight away. When you see Circle connected, choose Build an automation or Not now.

Community ID is only needed when your token can see more than one Circle community. Connecting then fails with a message that lists each community the token can see, with its ID. Open the connection in My apps, enter the ID of the community you sell into under Community ID, and choose Test Connection.

Steps you can add

Find or Create Member

Finds a member of your community by email, or invites them.

• Email Address (required), usually {{trigger.customer_email}}.
• Name: the full name, used when the member is created.
• First Name and Last Name: used for the name when Name is blank.

The step returns the member’s member_id, which Update Member Fields needs. New members get Circle’s invitation email, so test with your own address first.

Add Member to Space

Adds a member to a space. They must already be in your community, so put Find or Create Member before this step.

• Email Address: usually {{trigger.customer_email}}.
• Member ID: only needed when Email Address is blank, for example in a step set up before the email field existed. Pick member_id from the Find or Create Member step.
• Space (required): pick a space from your community.

Fill in Email Address or Member ID. One of them is needed.

Remove Member from Space

Removes a member from a space, for example when they’re refunded. They stay in your community. If Circle has no member with that email, or they aren’t in the space, the step is skipped rather than failed.

• Email Address (required), usually {{trigger.customer_email}}.
• Space (required): the space to remove them from.

Update Member Fields

Updates profile fields on an existing member.

• Member ID (required).
• Fields (required): pairs of a Circle field name and a value, such as name, headline, bio or location. At least one is needed.

Start a sequence when someone joins Circle

The Member Created trigger starts a sequence when a new member joins your community. Pick a Space to fire only for members of that space, or leave it blank for any new member.

Circle has no API for webhooks, so you connect this one by hand:

1. Copy the URL from Plandalf

   Save the trigger in Plandalf. On its 2. Config tab, under Webhook, the box Send Circle events to this URL shows the address. Click Copy.

2. Create a Circle workflow

   In Circle, open Workflows and create an automation workflow. Choose the trigger for a member joining your community.

3. Send it to Plandalf

   Add the Send to webhook action and paste the URL as its endpoint. Circle includes this action on its Enterprise plan. On other plans, send the same request from a Zapier or Make step instead.

4. Turn it on and test

   Turn the workflow on, add a test member, then come back to the trigger’s 3. Test tab to see the event.

The trigger gives later steps the member’s member_id, email, name, first_name, last_name, headline and spaces.

Example: buyers join your members space

1. Create the sequence

   Go to Automation → My Sequences and create a sequence called “Course buyers to Circle”.

2. Set the trigger

   Choose Plandalf and Checkout Completed. Under Offer, pick the checkout that includes community access. On 3. Test, pick a recent checkout as the sample record.

3. Find or create the member

   Click Add a step, choose Circle and Find or Create Member, and pick your Circle account. Set Email Address to {{trigger.customer_email}} and Name to {{trigger.customer_name}}. This makes sure the buyer is in your community before the next step adds them to a space.

4. Add them to the space

   Add a second step: Circle, Add Member to Space. Set Email Address to {{trigger.customer_email}} and pick the members-only Space.

5. Test and turn it on

   Testing adds a real member to the space, so use your own email. Then turn the sequence On.

To try it with a test card, switch on Run on test purchases in the sequence’s Settings first. Test purchases skip automations by default.

Remove buyers from the space on refund

Take refunded buyers back out of the space with the Remove access on refund template.

1. Add the template

   Go to Automation → Templates, find Remove access on refund and click + Add. Pick the same checkout as your purchase sequence. Plandalf creates the sequence and opens it.

2. Pick the space

   Open the Remove Member from Space step. Email Address is already set to {{trigger.customer_email}}. Pick the members-only Space. To take away more than one space, add another Remove Member from Space step for each.

3. Turn it on

   The trigger is Invoice Refunded with Full refunds only on, so a partial refund leaves access alone. Turn the sequence On.

The buyer stays a member of your community. The template adds a removal step for every connected app that has one, so you may see steps for other apps in the same sequence. Set them up too, or delete the ones you don’t need.

Common errors

Related guides

• Automations overview
• Circle with Plandalf checkout
• Plandalf with Circle