Webinar recap: March 2026 developer update

In our March Developer Webinar, we moved past the usual ‘what’s new’ and tackled the ‘what’s next’. From the rise of AI-driven ‘vibe coding’ to the rollout of granular scopes, the ecosystem is evolving fast.

If you couldn’t make it, you can watch the full recording on YouTube.

https://medium.com/media/86d84d5501f5e9722b6ab6f5495ac480/href<p>Meet the panel</p><ul><li>Corey Leung: Developer Marketing Manager (Host)</li><li>Regan Ashworth: Head of Ecosystem Governance</li><li>Breana McHugh: Senior API Technical Specialist</li><li>Parikshit Ghosh: Senior Product Manager</li><li>Amanda Moyle: Content & Merchandising Manager</li><li>Millie Soutter: Senior Developer Marketing Manager</li><li>Annie Terry: Head of Platform Marketing</li></ul><h3>The fireside chat: Is everyone a developer now?</h3><p>The highlight of our session was a conversation between our host, Corey Leung, and Regan Ashworth, Head of Ecosystem Governance, about the ‘vibe coding’ movement.</p><p>We’re seeing a fundamental shift where describing a problem in natural language is becoming a valid way to build software. Using AI-native tools like Replit, Lovable, or Claude Code, builders can create applications at the speed of thought.</p><p>What is vibe coding? Regan likened it to the transition from manual to automatic transmissions in cars. Vibe coding lowers the barrier to entry, allowing non-technical founders and designers to prototype and deploy apps in record time simply by describing what they want to achieve.</p><p>The engineer’s role as a ‘force multiplier’ While the barrier is lower, the role of the professional engineer has never been more important. Proficiency in traditional engineering remains a massive advantage; experienced developers can use these tools to manage multiple sub-agents simultaneously. This turns AI into a force multiplier, allowing you to focus on high-level architecture rather than getting bogged down in syntax.</p><p>The quality bar remains While anyone can now prototype an app, Xero still maintains a strict quality bar for the Xero App Store. Security, hosting, maintenance, and long-term support are still the domain of the professional engineer. We’re excited to see how you use these tools to build more robust, innovative solutions for the Xero community.</p><h3>Technical deep dive: Scopes and webhooks</h3><p>We’re shipping updates that make your integrations more secure and your development environment more flexible.</p><p>Granular scopes are here</p><p>To give users more transparency, we’ve broken down our broad scopes into specific permissions.</p><p>Accounting.transactions is now split into specific scopes like accounting.invoices, accounting.banktransactions, and accounting.manualjournals.</p><ul><li>Accounting.reports now offers individual scopes for every report.</li><li>Why it matters: You can now request access to just the Profit and Loss report rather than the entire accounting suite.</li><li>Timeline: These are already live for new apps created after 2 March 2026. Existing apps will see these added on 8 April, with a full migration deadline of 27 September 2027.</li></ul><h3>Credit Notes webhooks</h3><p>Our internal eventing platform, Horizon, is now generally available for external partners.</p><ul><li>Early adopters have seen nearly a 50% drop in GET calls by switching from polling to these notifications.</li><li>You can activate these today via the Developer Portal > webhooks tab > subscribe to CreditNotes and then use the ‘Send test’ tool to verify the end point.</li></ul><h3>New toolkit for agentic workflows</h3><p>To help you build the next generation of AI-integrated apps, we’ve launched several new resources:</p><ol><li>Local MCP server: A Model Context Protocol server that allows AI models like Claude or Cursor to interact directly with Xero APIs.</li><li>Agentic SDKs: Reference implementations for LangChain, Google Agent Development Kit, and OpenAI.</li><li>Developer CLI (alpha): A new command-line interface in developer preview to support frameworks that prefer terminal-based interaction.</li></ol><p>Check out Xero’s AI Toolkit.</p>

<h3>Xero Developer events and updates</h3><ul><li>The Xero Developer growth program is always open for applications! We welcome five new apps per quarter. If you’re ready to scale, apply here.</li><li>Global App Awards 2026: Applications open 20 April. We’ve added a brand-new category: Developer Partner of the Year to recognise our custom builders.</li><li>Dev Council: We’re launching a 12-month cohort for developers to directly influence our product roadmap. Applications are coming shortly, check out the Xero Developer Blog for updates.</li></ul><h3>🇬🇧 Xerocon London core events</h3><ul><li>4–5 July | London Hackathon: We’re heading to ENCODE on 4–5 July for a two-day hackathon focused on ‘vibe coding’ and AI.</li><li>6 July | EPP meet up: Exclusive evening networking event for Ecosystem Payment Partners</li><li>July 7 | DevDay: Deep-dives into Xero’s latest API capabilities and roadmaps. Join us!</li><li>July 8–9 Xerocon: Secure your exhibitor spot at our two day London Xerocon</li></ul><h3>🇺🇸 Xerocon Denver core events</h3><ul><li>August 16 | Build Day (Tentative) learn to vibecode / understand Xero’s AI toolkit</li><li>August 18 | DevDay Deep-dives into Xero’s latest API capabilities and roadmaps</li><li>August 19–20 Xerocon Secure your exhibitor spot at our two day Denver Xerocon</li></ul>

<h3>Xero App Store Power Lists</h3><p>Our recent Xero App Store Power Lists campaign proved that customers are hungry for app recommendations from their peers. We featured over 100 apps across 10 diverse lists, and the results speak for themselves:</p><ul><li>Massive reach: We promoted the lists across seven key channels, including the Xero blog, email, social, and in-product comms, reaching 10 global regions.</li><li>Record engagement: Our social content outperformed LinkedIn benchmarks for impressions and reach by 50–200%.</li><li>High conversion: All key channels outperformed year-on-year benchmarks for both click-through and conversion rates.</li></ul><h3>Compliance reminder: Recertification</h3><p>A quick reminder: the deadline for annual recertification was 11 March 2026. If you’re in the Plus tier or</p><p>above and haven’t finished your OneTrust assessment, please check your inbox to ensure your app remains visible on the Xero App Store.</p><h3>Where to find us</h3><p>We love connecting with our developer community, whether it’s online or in person. Here is how you can stay in the loop and get involved:</p><ul><li>In person: Catch us at our upcoming meetups, DevDays, and Xerocon events in London and Denver.</li><li>Digital: Join the conversation on the Xero Developer Forum or follow us on @XeroAPI on X (formerly Twitter).</li><li>Self-serve: Explore our documentation, use the API Explorer, and check out our new agentic SDKs on developer.xero.com.</li><li>Feedback: Have a specific feature request? Head over to UserVoice to cast your vote on the tools and APIs you want to see next.</li></ul><p>See you at the next update!</p><hr /><p>Webinar recap: March 2026 developer update was originally published in Xero Developer on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>