Get Started with the Shippo API

Learn about Shippo and how to set up the credentials to get the token for Shippo.

We'll cover the following

What is Shippo?

Shippo is an online platform that manages the shipments of different online platforms. It provides multiple carrier companies with different shipment rates depending upon the parcel specifications, distance, and time to deliver the parcel. Shippo has a web application and an API, which we can integrate into our platform to manage the shipments of orders.

Shippo has two types of APIs––live and test. We'll be using the test API, reflecting the same experience as in the live API. We will use the following workflow in this course:

The Shippo account and token

We need to complete a few steps before we can start using the Shippo API. Visit the registration link and perform the following steps:

  • Enter the valid credentials for "First name," "Last name," "Email," and "Password." Click the "Get Started" button.

  • Select the desired plan and fill in the required details. We suggest selecting the “United States” as the country for a simple workflow and entering a valid phone number. Then, click “Save & Continue.”

  • Select the desired size of the "Shipping labels" from the drop-down. You can also select the preferred carriers from the drop-down "Carriers." Then, click “Save & Continue.”

  • Enter the required details and then click "Save & Continue," or we can skip this step by clicking "Skip for now."

  • It will redirect to the welcome page. The account has been created!

Fetch the API token

Click here to open the Shippo API’s page.

There are two types of API tokens available—the live and test tokens.

Save the API token

Let’s save the API’s test token to use throughout the course.

Perform the following steps to do so:

  1. Click the “Edit” button in the following widget.

  2. Enter your test token in the TOKEN field.

  3. Click the “Save” button.

As soon as we save the values, the values are replaced in the code. Click the “Run” button to check whether or not the token is saved.

Press + to interact
token = "{{TOKEN}}";
// Calling function to make API call
testAPI(token);