How to Migrate Your RunSignup Zaps to the New API Caller Registration Token Before January 1, 2027

Introduction

If your race or nonprofit uses RunSignup (RSU) or TicketSignup (TSU) connected to Zapier, a breaking authentication change is headed your way. RunSignup now requires every API caller to register for an API Caller Registration Token, and the RunSignup/TicketSignup Zapier app has been updated so connections need four credentials instead of two. Zapier cannot migrate your existing connections automatically, and legacy connections stop working on January 1, 2027. This guide walks you through registering your API Caller credentials, creating the new Zapier connection, switching every Zap over, and verifying nothing breaks.

Quick answer

Before January 1, 2027, register as a RunSignup API Caller to get your Registration Token and Password. Create a Zapier connection with all four credentials, switch every Zap to it, test, and publish.

Why this migration matters, in numbers

This is not a small corner of the internet. According to RunSignup’s 2025 RaceTrends industry report, the platform powered 97,127 race events and 12.2 million registrations in 2025, with race participation growing 5 percent year over year. The same report estimates RunSignup handles at least half of the entire US race registration market, and RunSignup’s Q3 2026 company update says the platform is approaching 60 percent market share, with races up 13 percent (more than 2,000 new races in Q3 alone) and registrations up 12 percent (more than 350,000 additional registrations) versus the same quarter last year. Read the quarterly data in the RunSignup Q3 2026 update, published on info.runsignup.com.

That scale is exactly why the migration is not optional. RunSignup is introducing API caller registration to improve system security, prevent unauthorized traffic, and protect its API infrastructure. The official guidance states the point bluntly: “Because this is a breaking security update, Zapier cannot automatically migrate your existing connections.” Every Zap your organization runs against RunSignup or TicketSignup, from registration-to-CRM syncs to donor thank-you flows, is affected. The full step-by-step is documented in RunSignup’s Important Updates for Zapier Users post, published October 7, 2026.

As of October 2026, roughly 11 weeks remain before the January 1, 2027 cutoff. The migration itself takes under an hour for a typical organization with a handful of Zaps, but the risk is forgetting one: any Zap still on the legacy connection when the deadline passes will pause or fail, silently stopping the automations your team depends on.

Prerequisites

• A RunSignup or TicketSignup account with administrative permissions to manage race or event API settings (only the primary account holder, or sub-accounts with admin permissions, can generate API Caller tokens).
• Your existing RunSignup API Key and API Secret (unchanged by this migration).
• A Zapier account with access to the Zaps that use RunSignup or TicketSignup.
• A secure credential store, such as a password manager, because the API Caller Password is displayed only once at creation.
• About 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how many Zaps you run.

Step 1: Register as an API Caller on RunSignup

Before touching Zapier, generate your API Caller credentials. You only need to do this once per organization.

1. Log in to your RunSignup account and open the API Caller Registration page. The direct URL is https://runsignup.com/API/ApiKeys, which is also linked from the official announcement post.
2. Review the API Developer Contract. Check the box to acknowledge and agree with the terms.
3. Click the Agree to Contract button.
4. Complete the registration form, including a brief description of your intended usage. A practical example from the official docs: “Zapier integration with CRM like Salesforce, Hubspot, etc.” Be specific about your own setup, for instance which system your registration data flows into.
5. Click Create API Caller. The page displays your API Caller Token and API Caller Password.
6. Copy both credentials into your password manager immediately. The API Caller Password is shown only once. If you navigate away without saving it, you cannot retrieve it later and must register again.

If you are a partner rather than a race director, you generate the API Key and Secret at the partner API summary page. Race directors generate API keys from the race dashboard under Race > Secure Access/Info Sharing. Note that when an API Secret is generated, it stays accessible only until you log out, so store it the same way you stored the API Caller Password.

Step 2: Create the new connection in Zapier

With all four credentials in hand, build the updated connection inside Zapier.

1. Log in to your Zapier account.
2. Click App Connections in the left-hand menu.
3. Click the Create Connection button in the top right corner.
4. Search for and select RunSignup or TicketSignup. If Zapier shows multiple listings, choose the unversioned one. Select “RunSignup”, not “RunSignup (1.4.0)”.
5. In the authentication pop-up, enter all four required credentials:
   • API Key
   • API Secret
   • API Caller Token
   • API Caller Password
6. Click Connect to finalize the connection.

Run Zapier’s built-in connection test before moving on. A successful test here confirms all four credentials are valid and correctly mapped, which saves you from debugging per-Zap failures later.

Step 3: Switch every Zap to the new connection

Zapier treats the four-credential authentication as a new connection, so each Zap must be updated by hand. There is no bulk-migration tool for this breaking change.

1. In Zapier, click Automations (or Folders) in the left menu and open a Zap that uses RunSignup or TicketSignup.
2. Click the trigger or action step that interacts with RunSignup or TicketSignup.
3. Open the Setup tab of the step.
4. In the App section, click Change, then search for and select RunSignup or TicketSignup.
5. In the Account section, click Change and select the new connection you created in Step 2.
6. Open the Test tab and click Test to confirm the step authenticates and runs without errors. Zapier sends a test payload through the new connection, so this verifies real authentication without affecting your live workflows.
7. Review the step’s downstream field mapping. Switching connections should preserve mapping, but confirm nothing changed unexpectedly, especially dropdowns that were populated from your RunSignup account (race lists, event lists, custom question fields).
8. Click Publish to save the updated Zap.

Repeat these steps for every active Zap that touches RunSignup or TicketSignup. Include Zaps you think are seasonal or dormant: a dormant Zap on the legacy connection will still break at the deadline and surprise you when race season starts.

Step 4: Verify and clean up

1. Inventory your Zaps before declaring victory. In Zapier, open App Connections, select your old RunSignup connection, and review which Zaps still reference it. The official blog recommends deleting the old connection once everything is migrated, but delete it only after confirming zero Zaps reference it. To be safe, re-link any Zaps you find, test, and publish them.
2. Run one end-to-end check per Zap. Trigger each migrated Zap with a real event (or Zapier’s test mode) and confirm the downstream system received the data. For registration-to-CRM flows, verify a test registration lands in the CRM with the right fields.
3. Watch the first scheduled runs after migration. Polling triggers pick up the new connection at their next scheduled check, so monitor Zap history for a day or two for authentication errors.
4. Delete the old connection in Zapier (Apps > old connection > Delete) so future Zaps cannot be accidentally built on legacy credentials.
5. Store the credential rotation plan: if your API Caller Token is ever revoked or deleted in RunSignup, every Zapier connection using it fails immediately. Document where the credentials live and who can regenerate them.

If your organization also runs custom API scripts, server-side webhooks, or third-party tools that call the RunSignup API outside Zapier, this is the moment to audit them too. The registration requirement applies to API usage broadly, not just the Zapier app.

Troubleshooting

Authentication test fails with invalid API Caller Token

Cause: the token was pasted into the wrong field, or invisible whitespace came along during the copy. The new connection form has four similarly labeled fields, and mixing up the API Key with the API Caller Token is the most common mistake. Fix: clear all four fields and re-paste each credential carefully, matching RunSignup’s labels exactly. The API Caller Token format differs from your API Key, so confirm you copied the token from the API Caller Registration page, not from your older API key page.

“API Caller Password” was lost or never saved

Cause: the password is displayed only once at creation, and someone closed the page. Fix: register again on the API Caller Registration page to generate a new token and password pair, then edit your Zapier connection with the new credentials. Remember that revoking the old token breaks every connection using it, so re-test and re-publish all migrated Zaps after rotating.

Only some team members can access the registration page

Cause: only users logged into the primary RunSignup/TicketSignup account, or sub-accounts with administrative permissions to manage race or event API settings, can generate API Caller tokens. Fix: ask the primary account holder or an admin to perform Step 1, then hand the credentials to whoever manages the Zapier account. Race directors who manage API keys from the race dashboard need the same level of access.

Zapier shows both “RunSignup” and “RunSignup (1.4.0)” in the app picker

Cause: Zapier lists multiple versions of the app. Fix: choose the unversioned listing, “RunSignup” or “TicketSignup”, when creating the new connection. The versioned listings are legacy artifacts; connecting through them can leave you on the old authentication model and defeat the purpose of the migration.

Zaps pause or fail with 401 errors after January 1, 2027

Cause: at least one Zap is still on the legacy connection. Legacy API calls without a registered API Caller token are rejected outright, so affected Zaps pause or fail. Fix: open Zap history to identify the failing Zaps, switch each one to the new connection using the Step 3 procedure, test, and re-publish. Prevent this scenario entirely by finishing the migration weeks before the deadline, when a failure is an annoyance instead of a race-week emergency.

FAQ

Can my existing RunSignup Zaps migrate automatically to the new authentication?

No. Adding new required authentication fields is a breaking change in Zapier, so automatic background migration is impossible. Every Zap that touches RunSignup or TicketSignup must be manually switched to a new connection with all four credentials and re-published.

Do I need a separate API Caller Token for every Zap?

No. Create one API Caller Token and one new Zapier connection, then reuse that same connection across all your RunSignup and TicketSignup Zaps. Reuse is the intended pattern.

Do my existing API Key and API Secret still work?

Yes. Your API Key and API Secret remain valid and are still required. The API Caller Registration Token and API Caller Password are added alongside your API credentials, not as a replacement for them.

What happens if I do nothing before January 1, 2027?

Legacy API calls without a registered API Caller token will be rejected, so every un-migrated Zap will pause or fail. Complete the migration early to avoid automation downtime during race season.

Should I delete my old Zapier connection after migrating?

Yes. Once every active Zap is reconnected to the new authentication model and verified with tests, delete the old connection in Zapier so nobody accidentally builds new Zaps on the legacy credentials.

Does this change affect API integrations outside Zapier?

The API Caller Registration requirement applies to the RunSignup API as a whole. If your organization runs custom scripts, webhooks, or other third-party tools against the API, verify that each integration also complies with the new registration model.

Conclusion

The RunSignup Zapier migration is straightforward but unforgiving: register one API Caller, create one new four-credential connection, switch every Zap, test, publish, and delete the old connection. The deadline is January 1, 2027, and anything still on legacy authentication after that date stops running. Do it this week, when it is a checklist, rather than in December, when it is a crisis.

If this is your second Zapier migration this year, you are not alone: Zapier’s own platform changes have kept automation owners busy, as covered in our guide to migrating from Zapier Functions to Code by Zapier. And if the manual per-Zap reconnect work makes you question Zapier’s ongoing cost, our walkthrough on how to migrate from Zapier to n8n shows a self-hosted alternative where API keys are fully in your control. Zendesk users face a similar token deadline: our Zendesk API token deprecation fix migrates Zaps to OAuth before the old tokens stop working.

Frequently asked questions