Introduction
------------

Welcome to our API!

APIs
++++

As a merchant, your website interacts with LaterPay through three core APIs:


:doc:`Identification API <../identification/index>`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who is this user?"

We need to know who the user is,
so we can track and manage their shared invoice.
We'll give you a token you can use to refer to them in subsequent API calls.

.. note::

   If you use the :doc:`Contributions </platform/dialogs/contributions/index>`
   or :doc:`Donations </platform/dialogs/donations/index>` APIs,
   feel free to skip this section.


:doc:`Access API <../access/index>`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Does the user have access to this?"

You make signed HTTP requests to our REST-y APIs,
we'll tell you if a user has access to your content.

.. note::

   If you use the :doc:`Contributions </platform/dialogs/contributions/index>`
   or :doc:`Donations </platform/dialogs/donations/index>` APIs,
   feel free to skip this section.


:doc:`Dialog API <../dialogs/index>`
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Let's sell the user something!"

You generate Dialog API URLs,
point the user at them,
and they'll go through our purchase / payment flows.
Once they're complete (or if they cancel!) they'll be back on your site.

There are three different subsections of the API which are available, depending
on your contract:

* :doc:`Sales API </platform/dialogs/sales/index>` (for most merchants)
* :doc:`Contributions API </platform/dialogs/contributions/index>`
* :doc:`Donations API </platform/dialogs/donations/index>`

Plugins
+++++++

LaterPay offers a few plug-ins, for example for the popular `WordPress <https://wordpress.org/plugins/laterpay/>`_
platform, which may mean that you will not have to directly work with any of
the above. However, if you wish to implement your own business model, or
use LaterPay from your own CMS, or have to integrate with your
accounting system, the following guide will tell you all you need to
know.


.. _sandbox:

Sandbox
+++++++

In any case, LaterPay provides you with a sandbox where you can test
your code and integration before taking it live.
When you're ready to open your platform to your users,
you will have to talk to our sales team and sign our contracts, a
process which usually takes between 3 days and a week. You can `contact
our sales team here <mailto:sales@laterpay.net>`__.


.. _authentication:

Authentication
++++++++++++++

For both the sandbox platform and the live platform, you receive a
merchant ID and a secret API key. These are
used to authorize and :ref:`digitally sign requests <signing_urls>`
made to our API endpoints.


Integration
+++++++++++

There are multiple ways merchants can :doc:`integrate <../integration/index>`
their systems with LaterPay directly using LaterPay APIs.