sales-skills/sales-gohighlevel

GoHighLevel (HighLevel) Platform Help

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.

1. What are you trying to do?

   • A) Build a v2 API integration — contacts, opportunities, conversations, calendars, payments
   • B) Set up webhooks — 50+ events, signature verification, retries
   • C) Pick the auth model — Private Integration Token (internal) vs Marketplace OAuth app (public/multi-account)
   • D) Agency setup — sub-accounts (locations), snapshots, white-label, SaaS-mode rebilling
   • E) Automate inside GHL — workflows, pipelines, smart lists, conversation/voice AI
   • F) Wire GHL to other tools — Zapier/Make, native integrations, custom middleware
   • G) Pick a plan — Starter $97 vs Unlimited $297 vs SaaS Pro $497
   • H) Something else — describe it

2. Agency or single business? Reselling to clients (sub-accounts, white-label, SaaS mode) vs running your own one business — drives plan + architecture.

3. Where does data need to flow? Stay in GHL / sync to a CRM or warehouse / drive an external app — drives API vs webhook vs Zapier.

Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already provides enough context, skip to Step 2.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

| If the question is about... | Route to... | |---|---| | Choosing a CRM across vendors (GHL vs HubSpot vs Attio…) | /sales-crm-selection {question} | | Multi-step funnel strategy across tools | /sales-funnel {question} | | Email marketing strategy (deliverability, sequences) | /sales-email-marketing {question} | | SMS marketing strategy / compliance | /sales-sms-marketing {question} | | Appointment-scheduling strategy across tools | /sales-meeting-scheduler {question} | | Reviews / reputation strategy | /sales-customer-reviews {question} | | Chatbot / conversational marketing strategy | /sales-chatbot {question} | | Connecting GHL to other tools (architecture) | /sales-integration {question} |

When routing, give the exact command.

Step 3 — GoHighLevel platform reference

Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — the Capture/Nurture/Close/Evangelize/Reactivate module map, sub-account/location/snapshot model, pricing and plan gates, integrations, and quick-start recipes (sync contacts via the v2 API + Private Integration Token; verify an Ed25519 webhook; agency sub-account + snapshot rollout).

Read references/gohighlevel-api-reference.md for the v2 API — base https://services.leadconnectorhq.com, OAuth 2.0 vs Private Integration Tokens, the required Version: 2021-07-28 header, the 100-request/10-second rate limit, meta/startAfterId pagination, core endpoints (contacts, opportunities, conversations/messages, calendars, payments), and the webhook signature scheme (Ed25519 X-GHL-Signature + public key; legacy RSA X-WH-Signature deprecating 2026-07-01).

Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Focus on the user's specific situation:

• Use API v2 (services.leadconnectorhq.com) and always send the Version: 2021-07-28 header — v1 keys/endpoints are legacy.
• Pick the auth model deliberately: a Private Integration Token (generated in Agency or Sub-account settings, scoped) is simplest for your own internal tools; a Marketplace OAuth app is for public/multi-account distribution. Most resources are scoped to a locationId (sub-account) — agency-level calls differ.
• Throttle to the 100-requests/10-second burst limit (per resource/location) — batch, cache describe-style lookups, and use exponential backoff on 429.
• Verify webhooks with Ed25519 (X-GHL-Signature + the published public key). The legacy RSA X-WH-Signature is deprecated 2026-07-01 — migrate before then. Make handlers idempotent (retries fire up to 12× with backoff).
• Usage is billed on top of the plan — email/SMS/phone run through LeadConnector; SaaS-mode rebilling (SaaS Pro) marks up client usage. White-label needs Unlimited+; reselling as your own SaaS needs SaaS Pro.
• Snapshots are the agency superpower — build a sub-account template once, deploy to every client.

If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.

Gotchas

Best-effort from research (2026-06) — review these, especially plan-gated features and pricing which change frequently.

1. Most v2 endpoints require a locationId (sub-account scope). Agency-level vs location-level tokens and calls are different — a token scoped to one sub-account can't read another.
2. The Version: 2021-07-28 header is mandatory on v2 calls — omitting it returns errors. (Other dated versions exist; pin one.)
3. Rate limit is 100 requests / 10 seconds (burst, per resource/location), plus a daily cap. Bulk jobs need throttling + backoff; spread work across locations where possible.
4. Webhook signatures are migrating. Current = Ed25519 X-GHL-Signature; legacy = RSA-SHA256 X-WH-Signature, deprecated 2026-07-01. Verify with the published Ed25519 public key, not the old RSA one.
5. Private Integration Token scopes are granular and easy to under-scope — a "Contacts read-only" token will 403 on writes. Re-issue with the scopes you actually need.
6. API v1 is legacy. Old rest.gohighlevel.com/v1 API keys still float around in tutorials; build on v2 (services.leadconnectorhq.com).
7. Usage costs are separate and add up — SMS/email/phone/AI are metered through LeadConnector on top of the $97/$297/$497 plan price. SaaS-mode rebilling is how agencies profit on that usage.
8. Plan gates: white-label branding needs Unlimited ($297); reselling GHL as your own SaaS (SaaS configurator + Stripe rebilling) needs SaaS Pro ($497). Starter ($97) caps you at 3 sub-accounts and no white-label.

Related skills

• /sales-crm-selection — CRM comparison and selection (GoHighLevel vs HubSpot, Attio, Salesforce, and others)
• /sales-funnel — Funnel strategy across tools (GoHighLevel is one of the funnel builders covered)
• /sales-email-marketing — Email marketing strategy (sequences, deliverability)
• /sales-sms-marketing — SMS marketing strategy and compliance
• /sales-meeting-scheduler — Appointment scheduling strategy across tools
• /sales-customer-reviews — Reputation and review-generation strategy
• /sales-integration — Connecting GoHighLevel to other tools (webhooks, Zapier, Make, middleware)
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code

Examples

Example 1: Sync new app signups into a GHL sub-account (developer/automation)

User says: "When someone signs up in my app, I want to create or update their contact in my GoHighLevel sub-account and tag them. What's the cleanest API setup?" Skill does: Recommends a Private Integration Token (Sub-account settings → scoped to Contacts write) over a full OAuth app for an internal tool. Shows the v2 call: POST https://services.leadconnectorhq.com/contacts/ with Authorization: Bearer <PIT>, Version: 2021-07-28, Content-Type: application/json, and a body including locationId, email, tags, and customFields (Recipe 1 in references/platform-guide.md). Notes the 100-req/10s limit and to upsert by email to avoid duplicates. Result: User has a scoped token and a working create/update-contact integration.

Example 2: Verify a GHL webhook and react to opportunity changes (developer)

User says: "I'm receiving GoHighLevel webhooks but I'm not sure how to verify they're authentic, and some seem to arrive twice." Skill does: Explains the payload shape (type, timestamp, webhookId, data) and verification: compute/verify the Ed25519 X-GHL-Signature against the published public key (legacy RSA X-WH-Signature is deprecated 2026-07-01). For duplicates, notes retries fire up to 12× with exponential backoff + jitter, so dedupe on webhookId and respond 2xx quickly (Recipe 2). Points to the Webhook Logs Dashboard for manual replay. Result: User verifies signatures correctly and handles at-least-once delivery idempotently.

Example 3: Agency rollout — sub-accounts, snapshots, and SaaS-mode rebilling

User says: "I run an agency with 20 clients. How should I set up GoHighLevel so each client has their own setup, and can I resell it under my brand?" Skill does: Maps it to Unlimited ($297) for unlimited sub-accounts + white-label, or SaaS Pro ($497) to resell GHL as your own SaaS with the SaaS configurator + Stripe rebilling. Recommends building one snapshot (pipelines, workflows, calendars, funnels) and deploying it to each client sub-account. Flags that SMS/email/phone usage is metered and SaaS-mode rebilling lets you mark it up. Result: User has a plan choice and a snapshot-driven multi-client architecture.

Troubleshooting

API calls return 401/403 or "insufficient scope"

Symptom: Requests fail with unauthorized/forbidden errors or scope messages, even with a valid-looking token. Cause: Token type/scope mismatch — a Private Integration Token under-scoped (e.g., read-only on a write call), a token scoped to a different sub-account/locationId, an expired OAuth access token, or a missing Version header. Solution: Re-issue the Private Integration Token with the exact scopes needed and confirm it's the right sub-account; for OAuth, refresh the access token and confirm the granted scopes. Always send Version: 2021-07-28 and the correct locationId. Build on v2 (services.leadconnectorhq.com), not legacy v1.

Hitting rate limits (429 Too Many Requests)

Symptom: Bulk syncs or busy integrations start returning 429s. Cause: The burst limit is 100 requests / 10 seconds per resource/location (plus a daily cap). Tight loops and unbatched syncs blow through it. Solution: Add client-side throttling to stay under 100/10s, use exponential backoff with jitter on 429, cache rarely-changing lookups, and spread work across locations/time. For large migrations, queue and pace the writes rather than firing them all at once.

Webhooks aren't verifying or seem to arrive twice

Symptom: Signature checks fail, or your system processes the same event multiple times. Cause: Verifying against the wrong scheme/key (the RSA X-WH-Signature is deprecated 2026-07-01) or not handling retries — failed deliveries retry up to 12× with backoff. Solution: Verify the Ed25519 X-GHL-Signature with the published public key. Respond 2xx fast (do slow work async) so GHL doesn't retry, and dedupe on webhookId to make processing idempotent. Use the Webhook Logs Dashboard to inspect/replay deliveries.