Commerce Exception API

Classify order, payment, inventory, and shipping exceptions into bounded advisory actions with stable idempotency keys and an audit receipt.

• Product and pricing
• Developer documentation
• Create a free account
• OpenAPI contract
• Postman collection

Quickstart: resolve a lost shipment with a duplicate capture without an account

The public demo runs the real production engine, stores nothing, meters nothing, and requires no API key. The data below is synthetic.

cat > request.json <<'JSON'
{
  "exception": {
    "exceptionId": "case_88213",
    "orderId": "SO-90417",
    "currency": "USD",
    "placedAt": "2026-03-02T00:00:00Z",
    "observedAt": "2026-03-21T00:00:00Z",
    "orderStatus": "open",
    "lines": [
      {
        "sku": "KB-88",
        "description": "Mechanical keyboard",
        "orderedQty": 2,
        "shippedQty": 2,
        "deliveredQty": 0,
        "returnedQty": 0,
        "unitPriceMinor": 8900,
        "onHandQty": 0
      },
      {
        "sku": "CBL-2M",
        "description": "USB-C cable 2m",
        "orderedQty": 1,
        "shippedQty": 1,
        "deliveredQty": 1,
        "returnedQty": 0,
        "unitPriceMinor": 1900,
        "onHandQty": 40
      }
    ],
    "payment": {
      "capturedMinor": 39400,
      "refundedMinor": 0,
      "authorizedMinor": 0,
      "charges": [
        {
          "chargeId": "ch_A1",
          "amountMinor": 19700,
          "capturedAt": "2026-03-02T10:14:00Z",
          "status": "captured"
        },
        {
          "chargeId": "ch_A2",
          "amountMinor": 19700,
          "capturedAt": "2026-03-02T10:17:00Z",
          "status": "captured"
        }
      ]
    },
    "shipment": {
      "status": "lost",
      "carrier": "UPS",
      "trackingId": "1Z-4471",
      "lastScanAt": "2026-03-06T02:00:00Z",
      "promisedBy": "2026-03-09"
    }
  }
}
JSON

curl -sS -X POST https://commerceexception-api.com/v1/demo/resolve \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data-binary @request.json

Selected fields from the deterministic 200 response (evaluated at 2026-09-06T20:30:00.000Z for this example):

{
  "resolution": {
    "exceptionId": "case_88213",
    "severity": "critical",
    "findings": [
      {
        "type": "duplicate_charge",
        "severity": "critical",
        "amountMinor": 19700,
        "detail": "1 capture(s) of an amount already taken within 60 minute(s), worth 19700 minor units.",
        "evidence": [
          "charge ch_A2 captured 3 minute(s) after ch_A1 for the same 19700 minor units"
        ],
        "ageDays": 19,
        "agedUp": false
      },
      {
        "type": "shipment_lost_in_transit",
        "severity": "critical",
        "amountMinor": 17800,
        "units": 2,
        "detail": "The carrier declared the shipment lost with 17800 minor units of goods aboard.",
        "evidence": [
          "shipment.status=lost",
          "shipment.trackingId=1Z-4471",
          "daysSinceLastScan=15",
          "inTransitValueMinor=17800"
        ],
        "ageDays": 19,
        "agedUp": true
      }
    ],
    "actions": [
      {
        "kind": "refund",
        "exceptionType": "duplicate_charge",
        "amountMinor": 19700,
        "currency": "USD",
        "claimedMinor": 19700,
        "clipped": false,
        "reason": "duplicate_capture_returned",
        "detail": "Refund the duplicate capture through the original payment.",
        "idempotencyKey": "cxr_bdb5ff5fc060e3aa35f8c5d163170934"
      },
      {
        "kind": "refund",
        "exceptionType": "shipment_lost_in_transit",
        "amountMinor": 17800,
        "currency": "USD",
        "claimedMinor": 17800,
        "clipped": false,
        "units": 2,
        "reason": "shipment_declared_lost",
        "detail": "Refund the value of the goods that never arrived.",
        "idempotencyKey": "cxr_c698a66459a3e8f94efdd57c2b3d4941"
      }
    ],
    "totals": {
      "recoverableMinor": 37500,
      "refundMinor": 37500,
      "creditMinor": 0,
      "escalatedPayoutMinor": 0,
      "recaptureMinor": 0,
      "pendingRecaptureMinor": 0,
      "restockUnits": 0
    },
    "receipt": {
      "exceptionId": "case_88213",
      "orderId": "SO-90417",
      "currency": "USD",
      "decidedAt": "2026-09-06T20:30:00.000Z",
      "findingCount": 2,
      "actionCount": 2,
      "netCapturedMinor": 39400,
      "refundCeilingMinor": 39400,
      "moneyOutMinor": 37500,
      "moneyInMinor": 0,
      "evidence": [
        "duplicate_charge -> refund 19700 USD (duplicate_capture_returned) cxr_bdb5ff5fc060e3aa35f8c5d163170934",
        "shipment_lost_in_transit -> refund 17800 USD (shipment_declared_lost) cxr_c698a66459a3e8f94efdd57c2b3d4941"
      ],
      "digest": "823177ea0cc6b52cdedddca5bff2a383e2f8b4a518335881790a3c7fc4c36af1"
    },
    "warnings": []
  },
  "requestId": "req_example"
}

The first useful result is two critical findings and a bounded refund plan totaling 37,500 minor units. Each proposed action has a stable idempotency key; the API advises but does not execute a refund.

Input contract

All money uses one currency and integer minor units. Include charge timestamps to detect duplicates and shipment state to bound what the merchant may retain.

Create and use a free API key

curl -sS -X POST https://commerceexception-api.com/v1/keys \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"email":"you@example.com","name":"github-quickstart","source":{"source":"github","medium":"developer","campaign":"commerce-exception-github","content":"readme"}}'

curl -sS -X POST https://commerceexception-api.com/v1/keys/claim \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"token":"PASTE_ONE_TIME_TOKEN_FROM_EMAIL"}'

export API_KEY='PASTE_API_KEY_FROM_CLAIM_RESPONSE'

curl -sS -X POST https://commerceexception-api.com/v1/exceptions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data-binary @request.json

The key-request response is 202 and sends a one-time claim token by email. The claim response is the only place the raw API key is returned; store it securely and never commit it. The authenticated endpoint accepts the same request shape as the demo, with the documented production batch limits and metering.

What to do next

Persist the returned receipt and route actions through your own approval and payment controls; never treat an advisory response as an executed payment.

The stable code catalogue for this product is GET /v1/exception-types. Branch on machine-readable codes, not human-readable detail text.

Authentication and troubleshooting

• 401: the authenticated endpoint did not receive a valid active key. Set API_KEY to the value returned once by /v1/keys/claim; do not send a claim token as a bearer credential.
• 400 invalid_request: read error.details.path when present and correct the named field. This service does not emit 422; a client-side schema tool may show 422 before a request reaches the API.
• 429 quota_exceeded or 429 rate_limited: inspect error.code, honor Retry-After when present, and retry with bounded exponential backoff. A quota exhaustion requires a later quota window or plan change, not a tight retry loop.

Every API error has {"error":{"code","message","requestId"}}. Share the request ID with support, never the API key, claim token, or customer payload.

SDKs and authoritative contract

• Python: ./sdk/python/commerce_exception.py
• TypeScript: ./sdk/typescript/index.ts

The live OpenAPI document is authoritative for operations and schemas. This overlay is a customer-runnable example aligned to that contract; it does not replace the OpenAPI document or claim that an unresolved external contract is authoritative.

Distribution attribution

The key request above uses commerce-exception-github as the stable GitHub campaign. The Postman collection uses postman / collection / commerce-exception-postman / public-collection. These are attribution inputs, not claims of customers or revenue.

License

MIT