No detours.
Even overnight.
x25pronto Austria carries approved goods shipments by car, van or Van XL personally and without unnecessary transhipment. Direct and overnight trips can be booked Monday to Sunday – subject to availability in the booking calendar.
API integration: automated booking and tracking for businesses
A practical guide for developers and IT teams: which endpoints, data fields and setup steps are needed to integrate bookings and tracking with a courier platform.
Quick answer
In short: API integration enables automated booking and real‑time tracking. Businesses connect ERP, shop or WMS to a courier via REST API, send shipment data (sender, recipient, dimensions, contents, service options) and receive booking confirmations and tracking webhooks.
Why integrate by API
An API reduces manual work and errors. It provides instant confirmations and automatic status updates. Companies with regular same‑day or overnight shipments benefit most. You can show live status in dashboards, trigger notifications and automate invoice reconciliation.
Technical components at a glance
Typical setups use REST over HTTPS with JSON. Key parts are authentication (API key or OAuth2), endpoints for quotes/booking, label generation, tracking queries and webhooks for status events. Optional endpoints include rating and available service lists.
Essential data fields for bookings
Send reliable fields: sender (name, company, street, postal code, city, country, phone, email), recipient (same), package details (weight, length, width, height, pieces), description of contents, packaging type, pickup date/time window and service options. Include internal reference numbers for reconciliation.
Tracking and webhooks for live updates
Subscribe to webhooks for events like "pickup confirmed", "out for delivery", "delivered" or "delivery failed". Make webhooks idempotent and secured (HMAC). Acknowledge events with HTTP 2xx. If webhooks are not available, use polling endpoints with respect for rate limits.
Security, validation and error handling
Use HTTPS, rotate keys regularly and restrict scopes per key. Validate inputs locally (postal formats, numbers, dimensions) and handle API errors by code (400, 401, 429, 5xx). Add retry logic for transient errors and alerts for persistent failures.
Practical integration tips
Use sandbox and production environments. Test edge cases with sample shipments. Log requests and responses without storing sensitive data. Keep a field mapping document between your ERP and the courier API. Process label generation asynchronously when needed and provide an internal dashboard for failed bookings.
Frequently asked questions
Which authentication method is common?
APIs commonly use API keys or OAuth2. API keys are simple to start, OAuth2 is better for user‑delegated access. Choose based on your company security rules.
How do I avoid wrong addresses?
Validate addresses before sending. Check postal codes, town combinations and normalize street fields. Some courier platforms offer address validation endpoints to improve accuracy.
How to test webhooks safely?
Use a sandbox endpoint and tools like ngrok or request forwarders. Validate signatures and make webhook handlers idempotent to avoid duplicate processing.
What tracking info should I show customers?
Provide clear status labels and timestamps. Link to live tracking where possible and offer automatic email or SMS notifications for important events.