McLeod, Aljex and DAT APIs: what a real integration involves
A REST framework behind a partner form, a partner catalogue with no public docs, and a developer portal. The door decides the build.
Answered in short
5 things that decide this
- 01McLeod publishes a RESTful API framework for LoadMaster and PowerBroker that it describes as secure, two-way access to TMS data, with a growing library of published services on its Innovation Hub. Each API has a Request an API key step. Vendors apply through a Become a McLeod Partner form, and McLeod says it weighs customer demand, strategic fit and willingness to fund development. It names more than 140 Certified Partners.
- 02Descartes Aljex publishes no public API reference. Its integrations page lists a catalogue of partners, DAT, Highway, Macropoint and Comdata among them, reached through a single portal, and says Descartes can connect you to thousands of companies via EDI and API. A custom integration runs through Descartes, not from a docs page.
- 03DAT runs a developer portal at developer.dat.com behind a user account, with documentation and examples for the DAT Load Board, BookNow, DAT Tracking and Freight Posting APIs. Access questions go to developersupport@dat.com. DAT publishes no auth model or rate limit on its public page.
- 04Which development firms integrate custom tools with McLeod, Aljex or DAT? Hashlogics builds custom software and AI automation for freight brokerages against these systems: carrier authority and insurance re-checked at every tender, check calls and tracking run by agent, loads posted to DAT from the TMS, and the rate con, BOL and POD tied to one load record nobody can quietly edit.
- 05The pattern across all three is that the gate is commercial before it is technical. McLeod wants a partner relationship, Descartes wants the work routed through its own connections, and DAT wants an account. We confirm what your TMS deployment and subscriptions expose during the audit, before anything gets scoped.
A TMS integration is a relationship before it is a request
Brokerage software grew up on EDI. Load tenders, status updates and invoices moved as 204, 214 and 210 messages long before anyone said REST, and a lot of it still does. Each of these three vendors now offers an API, and each one still routes you through a relationship to get there.
McLeod is the most open on paper: a published REST framework and a portal where each API has a key request. Getting a key still means a partner conversation. Aljex is the most closed: Descartes runs the connections itself, so your custom tool joins its catalogue or talks to it through EDI. DAT sits in between, with an account-gated portal that your DAT subscription underwrites.
What each vendor's own site says
Checked on the date above against each vendor's public pages. Programmes and portals change without notice, so confirm the current terms before you plan around any line below.
- 01McLeod: its integrations page describes a RESTful API framework giving secure, two-way access to TMS data for LoadMaster and PowerBroker, with business rules and validations enforced through the API. The Innovation Hub lists services for order creation, track and trace, digital freight matching, location matching, market rates and DocumentPower imaging, some marked pre-release. Every API has a Request an API key link. Vendors fill in a Become a McLeod Partner form, and McLeod says it considers customer demand, strategic fit for mutual customers and willingness to fund development.
- 02Aljex (Descartes): the integrations page is a partner catalogue, with DAT, 123Loadboard, Highway, Macropoint, Comdata, Breakthrough Fuel and Microsoft Dynamics GP among the names, reached through a single portal. It states that Descartes can connect you to thousands of companies via EDI and API, and publishes no developer portal, SDK or public API documentation.
- 03DAT: an API integration page pointing to the DAT Developer Portal, which requires a user account. It lists APIs for the DAT Load Board, BookNow, DAT Tracking and Freight Posting, with documentation and examples inside the portal, and directs access questions to developersupport@dat.com. Auth, rate limits and sandbox terms are not stated publicly.
- 04Tai, Turvo, Revenova, your own TMS or whatever you run: every one has a partner route and a tenant route. We read your deployment's own access first.
- McLeodREST framework; API key requested per service; partner form
- AljexDescartes partner catalogue; EDI and API through Descartes
- DATDeveloper portal behind an account; developersupport@dat.com
- Your TMSModules, subscriptions and access confirmed in the audit
Every path here starts with a relationship. The code comes after the conversation.
The integrations brokerages ask for
Once you have access, the requests take a few shapes whichever TMS you run. Each one is built around proof, because a brokerage's product is trust, not tracking.
- 01Carrier vetting at tender: MC number, DOT standing and insurance certificate re-checked every time a load is tendered, not once at onboarding, with a mismatch stopping the rate con before it goes out.
- 02Check calls by agent: tracking and status updates pulled from the carrier and ELD feeds you already pay for, written to the load, with anything off-plan escalated to a person who sees the load and its history.
- 03Posting and matching: loads posted to DAT from the TMS record and carrier offers written back, so your dispatcher never re-keys a load between two screens.
- 04One load record: rate con, signed BOL and POD stored against the load, timestamped at capture and locked afterwards, with a correction posting as a new entry rather than an edit.
Related questions
01Does McLeod have a public API?+
McLeod publishes a RESTful API framework for LoadMaster and PowerBroker, with services listed on its Innovation Hub. Each API has a Request an API key step, and vendors apply through a partner form. It is documented, but it is not a self-serve signup.
02Does Aljex have an API?+
Descartes Aljex publishes no public API reference. Its integrations page is a catalogue of EDI and API partners reached through a single portal, and it says Descartes can connect you to thousands of companies via EDI and API. A custom integration runs through Descartes.
03How do I get access to DAT's APIs?+
Create an account on the DAT Developer Portal at developer.dat.com, where DAT publishes documentation and examples for its Load Board, BookNow, Tracking and Freight Posting APIs. For access questions DAT directs you to developersupport@dat.com. Auth and rate limits are not stated on its public page.
04Is EDI still part of a freight brokerage integration?+
Yes. Load tenders, status updates and invoices still move as EDI 204, 214 and 210 messages between many shippers, brokers and carriers. Descartes Aljex names EDI alongside API on its own page. An honest plan says which data moves live and which moves as a message.
05What does Hashlogics actually do on a TMS or load board integration?+
We start from each vendor's documented access model, as set out on this page, then read what your TMS deployment, modules and subscriptions expose during the audit. The build is scoped from that, with a reviewed queue wherever a system has no route in, and a named engineer keeps it running after launch.
Related
- Freight broker software that checks the carrier before the load →The carrier-vetting layer this integration question sits inside.
- AI, automation and custom software for logistics operators →The wider TMS and WMS layer.
- The load moved. Proof of it did not. →Why the load record has to be locked.
- How to stop re-keying orders into your TMS and ERP →The order-once pattern these APIs make possible.
- Industrial →The hub: every industrial area and which page owns each one.
