How do I connect Circle.so to add members to my community automatically?
Paste your Circle.so API token and community ID: each new blog member joins your Circle community and is removed if their account is deleted.
The Circle.so connector keeps your community membership in step with your blog membership: every new blog member is automatically added to your Circle.so community, and removed again when their VeloCMS account is deleted. It's a free alternative to paying for a dedicated SSO plugin.
Installing the plugin and the general what-to-check list are common to all integrations and sit in the shared integrations guide. Below is what Circle.so itself needs.
Step 1 — Get your API token and community ID
In your Circle community settings, open the API section and generate an API token. Then find your Community ID, a number that appears in your Circle admin URL. If you want new members dropped into one particular Space rather than just the community, also note that Space's numeric ID.
Step 2 — Fill in the Circle.so panel
Open Admin → Plugins → Circle.so and fill in three fields: API Token, Community ID, and Space ID, which is optional. Click Save Settings. There is no Enable switch and no Test Connection button on this panel, so the first real signup after saving is the test.
What happens on signup
- The new member is added to your community by email address, with their name when they gave one.
- VeloCMS tells Circle not to send its own invitation email when it adds them.
- If Circle answers that the person is already a member, VeloCMS counts that as success, so a member can never end up in the community twice.
- If a Space ID is set, a second request adds them to that Space as well.
The second request is where gaps hide. A failure adding someone to the Space is written to the log but is not recorded as a failed sync, so Sync activity stays green even if the Space step missed. When members are in the community but not in the Space, check the Space ID first.
What happens when a member leaves
When a member's account is deleted, they are removed from the community, and a reply from Circle saying they were already gone counts as done. Unsubscribing from your newsletter does not remove anyone from Circle; only deleting the account does.
This connector doesn't touch anything if the API token or Community ID is missing — it skips the sync quietly rather than blocking signup, so a member always gets their VeloCMS account even if Circle.so is misconfigured or briefly unreachable.
If a signup didn't reach Circle
A failed community add is listed under Admin → Integrations → Sync activity against the member. Circle.so is one of the connectors that offers a Retry button there, because a repeat of the same request is harmless. Fix the token or community ID, then retry the failed rows instead of adding people by hand.
Disconnecting
Clear the API token in the same panel to stop syncing. Members already added to your Circle.so community stay there — VeloCMS only removes a member automatically when their VeloCMS account itself is deleted, not when you disconnect the plugin.