> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL. > For a complete documentation index, see https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/llms.txt. > For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/_mcp/server. # API Overview The Partner API is how you **onboard merchants and orchestrate connect flows** from your backend. It covers merchant lifecycle and connection state — not catalog editing, feed management, or credential handling. Channel3 runs those pipelines; the API is the control plane for getting merchants in and reading status out. Use it server-side only. For day-to-day ops — browsing catalogs, debugging sync issues, reporting performance — use the [Observability dashboard](/observability). ## What you can do #### Onboard merchants Register a merchant when they sign up or link a store. Channel3 assigns a stable `customer_id`, attaches them to your partner account, and starts baseline ingestion immediately — no connect flow required. #### Launch hosted connect Mint a short-lived, co-branded connect URL when a merchant is ready to link import sources (Shopify, WooCommerce, Akeneo, etc.) or distribution destinations (Google, Microsoft, OpenAI). #### Read connection state After a merchant returns from connect — or any time you need status — fetch import sources, destinations, and per-connection sync state for that customer. #### List your portfolio Paginate through every merchant you have provisioned, with `customer_id`, name, and logo — useful for reconciliation, support tooling, or syncing your own customer records. ## Endpoints Each maps to one job in the integration. See the [Quickstart](/quickstart) for the full four-step flow. | Endpoint | When to call it | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Create merchant](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/createpartnermerchant) | Customer signs up or you learn their storefront domain. Idempotent on domain — safe to retry. Returns `customer_id`. | | [Create connect session](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/createpartnerconnectsessionroute) | Merchant clicks Connect in your product. Returns a single-use hosted page URL (expires in **30 minutes**). Mint a fresh session for every attempt. | | [List connections](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/getpartnermerchantconnectionsroute) | After redirect to your `redirect_uri`, or when polling sync progress. Source of truth for connection and sync state — do not rely on callback query params alone. | | [List merchants](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/listpartnermerchants) | Audit or sync your managed merchant list. Paginated (`page`, `size`). | ### What happens on provision Calling [Create merchant](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/createpartnermerchant) is enough to start work: Channel3 activates a `web_crawl` connection automatically and begins crawling the storefront with no merchant action. Connect sessions are for **additional** import sources and distribution destinations beyond that baseline. ## Authentication Authenticate with your partner secret key (`c3_sk_...`) in the `x-api-key` header on every request. ```bash curl https://partners.trychannel3.com/v0/partner/merchants \ -H "x-api-key: c3_sk_..." ``` **Base URL:** `https://partners.trychannel3.com/v0` Never expose the key in a browser, mobile app, or client-side code. All Partner API calls belong on your server. Your key is issued once during partner onboarding. Contact [support@trychannel3.com](mailto:support@trychannel3.com) to rotate keys or register additional redirect URIs. ## What the API does not cover The API is intentionally small. These stay on Channel3: * **Connect UI** — OAuth, app installs, credential collection, and multi-step platform flows run on the hosted connect page. * **Catalog data** — product records, attributes, and normalization are in the pipeline and [Observability dashboard](/observability), not exposed as partner API resources. * **Feed delivery** — Channel3 generates and syncs feeds to each destination; you read status via [List connections](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/getpartnermerchantconnectionsroute). If you need hands-on visibility for white-glove support, use the dashboard. If you need programmatic status for your own UI, use [List connections](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/getpartnermerchantconnectionsroute). ## Next steps #### [Quickstart](/quickstart) Walk through provision → connect session → redirect → callback with example calls. #### API Explorer Schemas, error responses, and try-it-now requests on each endpoint in the reference below. ## API Docs - Channel3 Partner Program API [Create merchant](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/createpartnermerchant.md) - Channel3 Partner Program API [Create connect session](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/createpartnerconnectsessionroute.md) - Channel3 Partner Program API [List connections](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/getpartnermerchantconnectionsroute.md) - Channel3 Partner Program API [List merchants](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/listpartnermerchants.md) ## OpenAPI Specification The raw OpenAPI 3.1 specification for this API is available at: - [OpenAPI JSON](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/openapi.json) - [OpenAPI YAML](https://partner.docs.trychannel3.com/api-overview/openapi.yaml)