Why use OAuth?

OAuth 2.0 is the industry-standard protocol for online authorization.

While you build your Clover app, you may want to access data about Clover merchants, such as their order history or current inventory. With Clover REST API, your app can easily access data about merchants and their businesses.

Considering the sensitivity of merchant data, Clover uses the industry-standard OAuth 2.0 security framework for third-party developers to authenticate their apps with merchant accounts and let them use Clover’s public REST APIs on behalf of the merchant. When a merchant selects and installs your app from the Merchant Dashboard left navigation menu or the Clover App Market (in production environments), the OAuth flow begins.

OAuth flows based on regions

Beginning in October 2023, Clover is rolling out expiring auth tokens starting in the United States and Canada.

• If you create apps in North America—the United States, and Canada, see Authenticate with OAuth—Canada and US to create or migrate to expiring access (authentication) tokens.
• If you create apps in Europe or Latin America, see Use OAuth 2.0—Europe and Latin America to acquire API tokens.