Human-induced climate change, dominated by warming trends, poses a major threat to global biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Species interactions relay the direct and indirect effects of climate warming on individuals to communities, and detailed understanding across these levels is crucial to predict ecological consequences of climate change. We provide a conceptual framework that links temperature effects on insect physiology and behaviour to altered species interactions and community dynamics. We highlight key features of this framework with recent studies investigating the impacts of warming climate on insects and other ectotherms and identify methodological, taxonomic and geographic biases. While the effects of increased constant temperatures are now well understood, future studies should focus on temperature variation, interactions with other stressors and cross-system comparisons.