Quick Start Guide

You're only a few short steps away from making your first API calls! If you're a seasoned developer, you can probably skip this and head over to Getting access to the API to set up your credentials and get going. But if you're new to APIs, read on...

Step 0 - APIs

If you're completely new to REST APIs, or need a little refresher on them, take a quick read through our API 101 guide. It will get you up to speed and ready to go!

Step 1 - Get Authenticated

Before you can access either the staging or production APIs, you'll need a set of credentials. Each environment requires its own separate creds. Find out how to do that at Getting access to the API. For now, you'll just need credentials for the staging site.

Step 2 - Choose Your Language

REST APIs are beautiful because at their core you're simply accessing a Web address. To develop more functionality, you'll want to code those calls in a programming language. REST APIs don't care what language you use. Python and PHP are common, but you can use Java, Node.js, Ruby, or any language that supports making HTTP web calls. Our example code recipes are in Python, and the documentation for each endpoint have examples in multiple languages.

Step 4 - Call the API

With your staging credentials in hand, it's time to make your first API. The following recipe in Python will show you all the parts needed to call the /credit endpoint and find out how much credit your new account has.