Getting started

Create a store, authenticate and make your first call to the Printcart REST API.

What you can build

The Printcart REST API covers the whole headless web-to-print path. With it you can create a store, add products, define print sides with bleed and safe zones, upload fonts and artwork, save designs from the customizer, turn designs into projects (orders) and generate print-ready PDFs. Every Printcart plugin and app is built on the same API.

  • Base URL: https://api.printcart.com/v1
  • Format: JSON requests and responses over HTTPS
  • Versioning: v1 is the only version in service. Changes inside v1 are additive, so clients must ignore response fields they do not know.
  • Machine-readable spec: /docs/openapi.json (OpenAPI 3.1), rendered in the interactive API reference

Make your first request

Three calls take you from nothing to an authenticated request. Replace the placeholders with your own values and never paste real credentials into code that ships to a browser.

bash
# 1. Create an account (no credential needed). The response carries a JWT.
curl -X POST https://api.printcart.com/v1/account \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name":"Acme","email":"[email protected]","password":"<strong-password>"}'

# 2. Create a store with that JWT. The response carries the store sid and secret.
curl -X POST https://api.printcart.com/v1/stores \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $JWT" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"store_name":"Acme Print"}'

# 3. From here on, call the API with the store key.
curl https://api.printcart.com/v1/stores/store-details -u "$SID:$SECRET"

If you already installed a Printcart plugin or app, your store already exists. Copy its credentials from the dashboard instead of creating a new account.

Where to go next

  1. Authentication: the credential types and which one to use from a server or a browser.
  2. Conventions: response envelopes, cursor pagination, errors and rate limits.
  3. Build path guide: product, sides, design, project and print-ready PDF, end to end.
  4. Webhooks: get notified when products, designs and projects change.
  5. Design Tool SDK and Uploader SDK: embed the customizer or an artwork uploader in a storefront.
  6. AI Services and Studio AI: pay-per-token background removal, preflight, upscaling, face crop, bulk QR and face matching.
  7. API Reference: every published endpoint with request and response schemas.

Plans and API access

The reference is public. The credentials every Printcart plugin already uses (the store key and the public unauth token) work on every plan. Creating developer API keys (sk_ and pk_) requires the Advanced plan; below Advanced the key-creation endpoints answer 402 with the code capability_not_available. Keys that already exist keep working.

Support