Getting started

Chargebee provides HTTP based API which follows the essence of REST*. The HTTP protocol's rules are followed thereby enabling simple HTTP client tools like "curl" to be used.

The following client libraries provide a "easy to use" wrapper around the raw HTTP based API.

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Sample Snippets

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Sample Apps

Explore our suite of sample applications, complete with tutorials to guide your integration with Chargebee.

Documentation

For in-depth explanations and definitions of all Chargebee components, consult our documentation.

Chargebee follows the REST model of exposing resources as urls. For example, subscriptions are exposed as

https://{site}.chargebee.com/api/v1/subscriptions

Request

The HTTP method (like GET,POST) determines the operation type on the resource. Query parameters allow you to provide additional options to the GET requests. POST parameters provide the data to write operations like creation, modification of resource(s).

By default curl uses GET method. Use -X option to specify a specific HTTP method to use. For passing parameters, use -d option. ( Note: cURL automatically uses to POST method if any parameter is sent via -d option ).

Response

The response is in JSON format. Currently Chargebee does not support any other response format.

Note: Sometimes, while working with Chargebee APIs, you may see undocumented attributes returned in the response. Such attributes should be ignored.

Sample Request

# creates a subscription with customer information and billing details.
curl  https://{site}.chargebee.com/api/v1/subscriptions \
     -u {site_api_key}:\
     -d plan_id="no_trial" \
     -d customer[first_name]="John" \
     -d customer[last_name]="Doe" \
     -d customer[email]="john@user.com" \
     -d billing_address[first_name]="John" \
     -d billing_address[last_name]="Doe" \
     -d billing_address[line1]="PO Box 9999" \
     -d billing_address[city]="Walnut" \
     -d billing_address[state]="California" \
     -d billing_address[zip]="91789" \
     -d billing_address[country]="US" \
     -d customer[auto_collection]="off"

copy

# creates a subscription with customer information and billing details.
curl  https://{site}.chargebee.com/api/v1/subscriptions \
     -u {site_api_key}:\
     -d plan_id="no_trial" \
     -d customer[first_name]="John" \
     -d customer[last_name]="Doe" \
     -d customer[email]="john@user.com" \
     -d billing_address[first_name]="John" \
     -d billing_address[last_name]="Doe" \
     -d billing_address[line1]="PO Box 9999" \
     -d billing_address[city]="Walnut" \
     -d billing_address[state]="California" \
     -d billing_address[zip]="91789" \
     -d billing_address[country]="US" \
     -d customer[auto_collection]="off"

Sample Response [ JSON ]

{
    "customer": {
        "account_credits": 0,
        "allow_direct_debit": false,
        "auto_collection": "off",
        "billing_address": {
            "city": "Walnut",
            "country": "US",
            "first_name": "John",
            "last_name": "Doe",
            "line1": "PO Box 9999",
            "object": "billing_address",
            "state": "California",
            "state_code": "CA",
            "zip": "91789"
        },
        "card_status": "no_card",
        "created_at": 1517506669,
        "email": "john@user.com",
        "excess_payments": 0,
        "first_name": "John",
        "id": "__test__5SK0bLNFRFuBv6r6j",
        "last_name": "Doe",
        "object": "customer",
        "refundable_credits": 0,
        "taxability": "taxable"
    },
    "invoice": {
        "amount": 895,
        "amount_adjusted": 0,
        "amount_due": 895,
        "amount_paid": 0,
        "billing_address": {
            "city": "Walnut",
            "country": "US",
            "first_name": "John",
            "last_name": "Doe",
            "line1": "PO Box 9999",
            "object": "billing_address",
            "state": "California",
            "state_code": "CA",
            "zip": "91789"
        },
        "credits_applied": 0,
        "currency_code": "USD",
        "customer_id": "__test__5SK0bLNFRFuBv6r6j",
        "end_date": 1517506669,
        "first_invoice": true,
        "id": "__demo_inv__7",
        "line_items": [
            {
                "amount": 895,
                "date_from": 1517506669,
                "date_to": 1519925869,
                "description": "No Trial",
                "entity_id": "no_trial",
                "entity_type": "plan",
                "is_taxed": false,
                "object": "line_item",
                "quantity": 1,
                "tax": 0,
                "type": "charge",
                "unit_amount": 895
            },
            {..}
        ],
        "linked_orders": [],
        "linked_transactions": [],
        "object": "invoice",
        "price_type": "tax_exclusive",
        "recurring": true,
        "start_date": 1517506669,
        "status": "payment_due",
        "sub_total": 895,
        "subscription_id": "__test__5SK0bLNFRFuBv6r6j",
        "tax": 0
    },
    "subscription": {
        "activated_at": 1517506669,
        "created_at": 1517506669,
        "current_term_end": 1519925869,
        "current_term_start": 1517506669,
        "due_invoices_count": 1,
        "due_since": 1517506669,
        "has_scheduled_changes": false,
        "id": "__test__5SK0bLNFRFuBv6r6j",
        "object": "subscription",
        "plan_id": "no_trial",
        "plan_quantity": 1,
        "started_at": 1517506669,
        "status": "active",
        "total_dues": 895
    }
}

You can use cURL to test Chargebee API from a CLI. When you pass input parameters to the API using -d or --data-urlencode options, the HTTP POST method is used:

curl https://{site}.chargebee.com/api/v1/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/change_term_end
    -u {site_api_key}:\
    -d term_ends_at=1601490600

When no input parameters are provided, cURL uses the GET method by default:

curl https://{site}.chargebee.com/api/v1/subscriptions/{subscription_id} \
    -u {site_api_key}:

To make a POST request without providing any input parameters, use the -X POST option:

curl -X POST https://{site}.chargebee.com/api/v1/exports/subscriptions \     -u {site_api_key}:

Further, to make GET requests with parameters, you must use the -G option:

curl -X POST https://{site}.chargebee.com/api/v1/v2/orders \
    -G  \
    -u {site_api_key}:\
    --data-urlencode limit=3 \
    --data-urlencode status[is]="queued"

OpenAPI Specification

As part of our commitment to enhance the developer experience, we're thrilled to introduce the Chargebee OpenAPI specification. It's the first step in a series of planned improvements.

The Chargebee OpenAPI specification is a version of our API spec that is fully compliant with the OpenAPI Specification v3.0.1. Stay tuned for more updates!

Code samples

The sample code snippets provided for the endpoints in this documentation are ready-to-test. Once you log in and select a test site using the dropdown that appears at the top, the code samples in this documentation automatically include your API key and site data.

API testing

Chargebee provides the Time Machine feature to help you test your integration. Once you've set up your billing configuration on the test site, you can simulate events on a hypothetical time frame to ensure everything works as expected. Ensure that you rigorously test your configuration before going live.

Additional developer resources

Check out our collection of sample applications and related tutorials for integrating with Chargebee.