The Whiplash API

Jodi Croft
Jodi Croft
  • Updated

Using the Whiplash API, you can create an application to do any task you would normally do via the app UI and more.

Customers who build into the Whiplash API typically have their internal development team or collaborate with a third-party development company to create a custom integration for their eCommerce shop.

 

Getting Started with the V2 API

It is highly recommended that new API integrations be built out first in the Whiplash Sandbox (testing) environment before integrating into the Whiplash Production (live) environment.

Whiplash Sandbox

The Sandbox environment is located at https://sandbox.getwhiplash.com/.

Whiplash offers one Sandbox account per customer. To request your account, please complete and submit the following form. A representative from Whiplash Tech Support will respond within 24 hours (Mon-Fri). 

Whiplash Production

The Production environment is located at https://app.getwhiplash.com/

When you are ready to deploy your integration to the Production environment, connect with your Whiplash Sales Representative for the next steps.

 

How to Begin

While Whiplash cannot advise on how best to architect your end of the integration, the most common type of integration is notifying Whiplash of an order that needs to ship.

In this scenario, there are four basic steps to cover:

  1. Authenticate your connection. You must have a Whiplash User Account and API Credentials to authenticate into the API. Developer documentation is located here.
  2. Create an Item. An Item in Whiplash represents a product in a specific size, style, and color. Developer documentation is located here.
  3. Create an Order. An Order in Whiplash contains the Recipient Address and Shipping Method. Developer documentation is located here.
  4. Create an OrderItem. An OrderItem in Whiplash references both the Order and the Item. This tells Whiplash what product to ship. Developer documentation is located here.
Note: Your implementation of each of these steps should check for the existence of the Whiplash object before your application creates it. For example, an item can only be created once and is shared by many orders.
Pro Tip: You can save your own order/item ID as the Originator ID (see related developer documentation here), which will make it easier to look up your orders later. Using the Originator ID will also act as a safeguard to prevent your application from creating multiple copies of the same order/item.

Helpful Links

  • The complete V2 API Developer Library is located here.
  • Read more about Authentication for the V2 API here.
  • Searching within the Whiplash API is attainable after reviewing the pointers outlined here.

Other API Versions

V2.1 API

The V2.1 API is almost identical to the V2. The critical difference is that it limits the size of the payloads we return. Applications that do not inspect our responses and use Status Codes can use the 2.1 API as a drop-in replacement.

Note: Calls to resources that do not implement V2.1 API will be forwarded to the V2.0 API. V2 requests are backward compatible and will not fail.

View the V2.1 API documentation here

V1 API

The V1 API is deprecated and no longer supported. The deprecated documentation and information related to the V1 API are located here