All REST API endpoints require an OAuth-generated access_token with specific permissions. Use the v2/OAuth flow to create an expiring authentication token, which includes an access_token and a refresh_token pair.

Prerequisites

1. Create a global developer account.
2. Manage test merchant accounts and information.
3. Create your app in the sandbox environment.
4. Configure settings and permissions that your app requires to access Clover merchant data.
5. Set the Alternate Launch Path—Required when the app OAuth is initiated from the left navigation menu on the Merchant Dashboard or directly from the Clover App Market. See Set app link (URL) and CORS domain.

Steps

The Clover OAuth flow starts when the merchant selects your app directly from the Clover App Market or from the left navigation on the Merchant Dashboard (More Tools > Clover App Market). Clover redirects the merchant to your app with the merchantId included in the Redirect URI as a query parameter. From there, your app must call the /oauth/v2/authorize endpoint to initiate the v2/OAuth flow and get an access_token and refresh_token pair.

If a merchant accesses the app from your website instead of installing or connecting to it from the Clover App Market, your app needs to redirect to the /oauth/v2/authorize endpoint.

To generate an expiring access and refresh token pair:

1. Log in to the Global Developer Dashboard.

2. Navigate to the Merchant Dashboard for your test merchant.

3. From the left navigation menu, click More, and then select your app on the Clover App Market page.

4. Click Connect to install your app for the test merchant.

   From here:

   1. For merchant authorization, Clover redirects the merchant to the location specified in the Alternate Launch Path field, and the app calls /oauth/v2/authorize with the authorization code code as a query param to initiate OAuth.

      OAuth callback format

      `https://www.example.com/oauth_callback?code={AUTHORIZATION_CODE}&merchant_id={MERCHANT_ID}`

   2. For token exchange, your app makes a POST request with theclient_id, client_secret, and code to /oauth/v2/token. The response provides an access_token and refresh_token pair that displays on the OAuth Process Results page of your app.

      

Request and Response example

Expiring OAuth token for high-trust app

curl --request POST \
--url 'https://apisandbox.dev.clover.com/oauth/v2/token' \
--header 'content-type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "client_id": "{APP_ID}",
    "client_secret": "{APP_SECRET}",
    "code": "{AUTHORIZATION_CODE}"
}'

{
    "access_token": "{ACCESS_TOKEN}",
    "access_token_expiration": 1677875430,
    "refresh_token": "{REFRESH_TOKEN}",
    "refresh_token_expiration": 1709497830
}

Expiring OAuth token for low-trust app

curl --request POST \
--url 'https://apisandbox.dev.clover.com/oauth/v2/token' \
--header 'content-type: application/json' \
--data '{
    "client_id": "{APP_ID}",
    "code": "{AUTHORIZATION_CODE}",
    "code_verifier": "{CODE_VERIFIER}"
}'

{
"access_token": "{ACCESS_TOKEN}",  
"access_token_expiration": 1677875430,  
"refresh_token": "{REFRESH_TOKEN}",  
 "refresh_token_expiration": 1709497830  
}

For more information, see:

• High-trust apps—Auth code flow
• Low-trust apps—Auth code flow with PKCE

Generate a new OAuth expiring token with a refresh token

For information, see Use refresh token to generate new expiring token.