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jonsebastianbach avatar image
jonsebastianbach asked Frank Faustino Deactivated answered

Question re: custom e-commerce site and Clover integration

Hello,

I am a Clover merchant and software developer with a medium sized brick-and-mortar retail store (5000 unique inventory items). I am planning on developing a custom e-commerce website using React/Redux and Node.js hosted on Amazon's serverless platform service (AWS Lambda + API Gateway).

I was wondering how easy it would be to integrate my online store with Clover's REST API. Would this tech stack (serverless React/Node) be appropriate?

After reading the docs, it appears that the only way I would be able to get an Oauth merchant token for my store would be to register as a developer and publish the web app to Clover's marketplace? Is this necessary? I intend for this to be a simple online store that is integrated with my Clover merchant account, NOT a SaaS app for consumption by other Clover merchants.

Currently, I'm at the stage where I'm playing around with the REST API using an API token from the Setup app in a developer sandbox account.

Is there any way I can test order creation and payment processing in a sandbox environment?

Thank you for your help!






REST APIApp MarketOAuthAPI TokenDeveloper Pay API
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Frank Faustino avatar image
Frank Faustino Deactivated answered

As Zach mentioned above, it's currently not possible to publish private apps on the Clover App Market. All apps published to Clover's App Market, including web apps consuming Clover's REST API, would have to be installed by the merchant from the App Market on their Clover device or the Clover Dashboard. You can read more about how the installed apps use OAuth to establish a secure connection and redirect the merchant to your web app here: https://docs.clover.com/clover-platform/docs/merchant-interaction

After you've implemented OAuth in your web app, I recommend reviewing the following docs for building your e-commerce app:

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zgreathouse avatar image
zgreathouse Deactivated answered Frank Faustino Deactivated converted comment to answer
I don't personally see anything wrong with any tech stack, so long as you are able to make authenticated REST calls from your backend.

If I understand the second question correctly- you are inquiring about private apps on the Clover Platform. Please review the answer to the Post in the link below:
https://community.clover.com/questions/16137/private-unpublished-app-for-my-company-only.html

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jonsebastianbach avatar image jonsebastianbach commented ·
@zgreathouse thanks for the reply!

Regarding authentication, would I be able to make authenticated REST calls from my backend using OAuth merchant tokens without having to publish my app on the Clover platform? I'm currently using the API tokens generated in the Setup app, and it doesn't seem like these tokens are should be used in production (e.g., no CORS support, etc.)
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zgreathouse avatar image zgreathouse jonsebastianbach commented ·

This is not possible in production. Part of the authentication process outlined in the provided answer is verification that the Merchant has installed the app from the Clover App Market. For a production Clover web app to utilize a Clover API Token it must be published to the Clover App Market.

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jonsebastianbach avatar image jonsebastianbach commented ·
I don't think I'm understanding.

Simply put, I want to utilize Clover's REST API to build a back-end for my browser-based retail store website, which include API endpoints for creating orders, making payments, and fetching inventory from my single merchant account.

What is the best way to do this?

You say that I need to put the app on the Clover Market. How would a merchant download and use a browser-based web app? This makes no sense to me. This project is for a private online retail store, not an app for consumption by other merchants.
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