In this first step of the partner integration guide, we’ll take you through securely gaining access to your users’ GoCardless accounts.

You’ll end up with an access token, which we’ll be able to use later on in this guide to set up mandates and payments on your user’s behalf.

OAuth: an introduction

To set up mandates and payments for your users, you’ll need access to their GoCardless account so you can make API requests on their behalf.

Our OAuth flow allows you to securely obtain an access token for a GoCardless account without having to have your user’s password or do any manual setup.

There are four key benefits to getting access to your users’ accounts using OAuth:

  • It’s secure: Your users have a secure way to grant you access to their account without needing to send you their login credentials or an access token. They only need to tell us that you may have access through a simple online process.
  • It’s fast : You only need to generate and send your user to a link to our OAuth flow. From there, they’ll create a GoCardless account or sign in to their existing one, approve your access to their account, and then we’ll send them right back to you with an access token.
  • It’s lucrative: Linking to your users’ accounts using OAuth makes you eligible to earn commission for each payment they process through your product, either by adding your own fees on top of GoCardless’s, or by receiving a share of GoCardless’s fees
  • It’s future-proof: As the GoCardless API gets better and better over time and offers new functionality, you’ll be able to stay up-to-date and use all the latest features

The process for your user looks like this:

  1. Your user clicks a button in your UI to start the process of connecting with GoCardless
  2. You generate a link to the GoCardless OAuth flow, embedding details of your app (which we’ll set up next) as well as a scope to specify the level of access you want your user to give you
  3. You redirect your user to the generated link. Your user lands on our site, where they create a GoCardless account or log in to their existing one, and agree to grant your app access
  4. We redirect your user’s browser back to you with a code query parameter
  5. You exchange the code for a permanent access token, which you store so that you can use it to make API requests on your user’s behalf

GoCardless OAuth flow

You’ll send each of your users through this flow, connecting them to the same app, and getting an access token for each of them.

Using the OAuth flow

Creating an app

Before we can get started, you need to create an “app” in the sandbox environment which represents your partner integration in the GoCardless system. You’ll be issued with a client ID and secret, which you’ll use to identify yourself when sending users to the OAuth flow and swapping codes for access tokens.

First sign up for a GoCardless account in our sandbox testing environment and then create an app.

You’ll need to provide a name, a description and the URL of your homepage (where users can go to read more about your product or your integration with GoCardless). We won’t specify the post-onboarding URL or webhook URL for now.

Once your user has completed the OAuth flow, they will be redirected to your application using the redirect_url parameter you provide. For security reasons, this can’t be just any internet URL, so you will need to configure at least one redirect URL here (which must exactly match the parameter). You may wish to add additional redirect URLs, for example when also testing against your local application, but we’ll only allow up to 20 redirect URLs in total.

Creating a GoCardless OAuth app

Once you’ve created an app, you’ll see it in the list of your apps in your Dashboard. Click on your newly-created app, and take a note of the Client ID and Client Secret.

Let’s get started by installing an OAuth client library:

composer require adoy/oauth2

pip install oauth2client

echo "gem 'oauth2'" >> Gemfile
bundle install

<-- Add the following to your Maven file --> 
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.squareup.okhttp3</groupId>
    <artifactId>okhttp</artifactId>
    <version>3.4.1</version>
</dependency>

Now we’ve installed the library, we can build a link to the OAuth flow. We’ll have to pass in a number of parameters, including the client_id and client_secret, as well as a few parameters that will vary by library. These can include:

The URL of the GoCardless OAuth flow
In the sandbox, this is https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/authorize. It'll form the base of the URL your client library generates.
A redirect URL
The URL to send your users to once they've agreed to connect their account to GoCardless (as well if they deny authorisation or something goes wrong, in which case we'll pass you details of the error). This must exactly match one of the redirect URLs you specified above.
The URL of the GoCardless access token API
The URL of the API endpoint which will be used to exchange the code for an access token after your user has been redirected back to your redirect URL. In the sandbox environment, this is https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/access_token.
scope
The level of access you want to your users' GoCardless accounts - this may either be read_write or read_only.
initial_view (optional)
An optional parameter, set to either signup or login to specify which view we should show when your user enters the OAuth flow. By default, they will see the login view if you're requesting read_only access and the signup view if requesting read_write.
state (optional)
Any value you pass in here will be included as a querystring parameter when we redirect back to your redirect URL. Please note that this value can be tampered with by your user, and so shouldn't be trusted implicitly. We recommend using this parameter for a CSRF token.
prefill[email] (optional)
Your user's email address. We will pre-fill this on the login or signup forms to make it quicker and easier for them to complete the flow.
prefill[given_name] (optional)
Your user's given (first) name. We will pre-fill this on the signup form.
prefill[family_name] (optional)
Your user's family (last) name. We will pre-fill this on the signup form.
prefill[organisation_name] (optional)
The name of the user's organisation (e.g. Acme Widget plc, 2nd Upminster Scout Group or Tim Rogers). We will pre-fill this on the signup form.
language (optional)
The language that the login/signup form should be in, in ISO 639-1 format. If the language specified is supported, we will use it. Otherwise, we will fall back to the most appropriate available language for the user, based on factors like their browser settings and location.
<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// You should store your client ID and secret in environment variables rather than
// committing them with your code
$client = new OAuth2\Client(getenv('GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_ID'), getenv('GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_SECRET'));

$authorizeUrl = $client->getAuthenticationUrl(
    // Once you go live, this should be set to https://connect.gocardless.com. You'll also
    // need to create a live app and update your client ID and secret.
    'https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/authorize',
    'https://acme.enterprises/redirect', // Your redirect URL
    ['scope' => 'read_write',
     'initial_view' => 'login',
     'prefill' => ['email' => 'tim@gocardless.com',
                   'given_name' => 'Tim',
                   'family_name' => 'Rogers',
                   'organisation_name' => 'Tim\'s Fishing Store']]
);

// You'll now want to direct your user to the URL - you could redirect them or display it
// as a link on the page
header("Location: " . $authorizeUrl);

import os
from oauth2client.client import OAuth2WebServerFlow

# You should store your client ID and secret in environment variables rather than
# committing them with your code

flow = OAuth2WebServerFlow(
    client_id=os.environ['GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_ID'],
    client_secret=os.environ['GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_SECRET'],
    scope="read_write",
    redirect_uri="https://acme.enterprises/redirect",
    # Once you go live, this should be set to https://connect.gocardless.com. You'll
    # also need to create a live app and update your client ID and secret.
    auth_uri="https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/authorize",
    token_uri="https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/access_token",
    initial_view="signup",
    prefill={
        "email": "tim@gocardless.com",
        "given_name": "Tim",
        "family_name": "Rogers",
        "organisation_name": "Tim's Fishing Store"
    }
)

authorize_url = flow.step1_get_authorize_url()

# You'll now want to direct your user to the URL - you could redirect them or display it
# as a link on the page
flask.redirect(authorize_url, code=302)

require 'oauth2'

# You should store your client ID and secret in environment variables rather than
# committing them with your code
oauth = OAuth2::Client.new(ENV['GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_ID'],
                           ENV['GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_SECRET'],
                           # Once you go live, this should be set to
                           # https://connect.gocardless.com. You'll also need to create
                           # a live app and update your client ID and secret.
                           site: 'https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com',
                           authorize_url: '/oauth/authorize',
                           token_url: '/oauth/access_token')

authorize_url = oauth.auth_code.authorize_url(redirect_uri: 'https://acme.enterprises/redirect',
                                              scope: 'read_only',
                                              initial_view: 'signup',
                                              prefill: {
                                                email: "tim@gocardless.com",
                                                given_name: "Tim",
                                                family_name: "Rogers",
                                                organisation_name: "Tim's Fishing Store"
                                              })

redirect_to authorize_url

// See https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gocardless/gocardless-pro-java-maven-example/master/src/main/java/hello/OAuthController.java

import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
import org.springframework.web.util.UriComponentsBuilder;

@RestController
public class OAuthController {

  private static final String authoriseRedirectUrl =
          "https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/authorize";
  private static final String redirectUrl =
          "https://bb314345.ngrok.io/redirect";
  private static final String clientID =
          System.getenv("GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_ID");
  private static final String clientSecret =
          System.getenv("GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_SECRET");

  @GetMapping("/")
  public ResponseEntity<String> index() {
      String oauthUrl = UriComponentsBuilder
        .fromUriString(authoriseRedirectUrl)
        .queryParam("client_id", clientID)
        .queryParam("redirect_uri", redirectUrl)
        .queryParam("scope", "read_write")
        .queryParam("response_type", "code")
        .queryParam("initial_view", "signup")
        .queryParam("prefill[email]", "tim@gocardless.com")
        .queryParam("prefill[given_name]", "Tim")
        .queryParam("prefill[family_name]", "Rogers")
        .queryParam("prefill[organisation_name]", "Tim's Fishing Store")
        .toUriString();
      HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
      headers.add("Location", oauthUrl);
      return new ResponseEntity<String>(oauthUrl, headers, HttpStatus.FOUND);
  }
}

With these parameters set correctly, the resulting URL will have the following format:

https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/authorize?client_id=myid&initial_view=signup&prefill%5Bemail%5D=tim%40gocardless.com&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Facme.enterprises%2Fredirect&response_type=code&scope=read_only

Run this code to generate a link to the OAuth flow. Head over to the link you’ve just generated in an Incognito window, and you’ll see our OAuth flow.

GoCardless OAuth flow

Getting an access token

On the signup form, we recommend creating a second sandbox account using a different email address. This will replicate what your users will experience when connecting to your partner integration, and will give you an example account which you can use from the perspective of one of your users.

Once your user has either signed up or logged in, and then approved your app’s access to their account, they’ll be sent to your app’s redirect URI with a temporary code which you’ll see in the query parameters, as well as any state you provided.

You should use the OAuth client library we set up earlier to fetch an access token using the code. This is a permanent access token which allows you to use the API on behalf of your merchant at any time.

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$client = new OAuth2\Client(getenv('GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_ID'),
                            getenv('GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_SECRET'));

// You'll need to use exactly the same redirect URI as in the last step
$response = $client->getAccessToken(
    'https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/access_token',
    'authorization_code',
    ['code' => $_GET['code'], 'redirect_uri' => 'https://acme.enterprises/redirect']
);

$payload = ['gocardless_access_token' => $response['result']['access_token'],
            'gocardless_organisation_id' => $response['result']['organisation_id']];

$currentUser->update($payload);

import os
from oauth2client.client import OAuth2WebServerFlow

# You should store your client ID and secret in environment variables rather than
# committing them with your code
flow = OAuth2WebServerFlow(
        client_id=os.environ['GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_ID'],
        client_secret=os.environ['GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_SECRET'],
        scope="read_write",
        # You'll need to use exactly the same redirect URI as in the last step
        redirect_uri="https://acme.enterprises/redirect",
        # Once you go live, this should be set to https://connect.gocardless.com. You'll
        # also need to create a live app and update your client ID and secret.
        auth_uri="https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/authorize",
        token_uri="https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/access_token",
        initial_view="signup"
)

access_token = flow.step2_exchange(request.args.get('code'))

# You should store the user's access token - you'll need it to make API requests on their
# behalf in future. If you want to handle webhooks for your users, you should also store
# their organisation ID which will allow you to identify webhooks belonging to them.
current_user.update(
    gocardless_access_token=access_token.access_token,
    gocardless_organisation_id=access_token.token_response['organisation_id']
)

require 'oauth2'

# You should store your client ID and secret in environment variables rather than
# committing them with your code
oauth = OAuth2::Client.new(ENV['GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_ID'],
                           ENV['GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_SECRET'],
                           # Once you go live, this should be set to
                           # https://connect.gocardless.com. You'll also need to create
                           # a live app and update your client ID and secret.
                           site: 'https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com',
                           authorize_url: '/oauth/authorize',
                           token_url: '/oauth/access_token')

access_token = oauth.auth_code.get_token(
  params[:code],
  # You'll need to use exactly the same access token as you did in the last step
  redirect_uri: 'https://acme.enterprises/redirect'
)

# You should store the user's access token - you'll need it to make API requests on their
# behalf in future. If you want to handle webhooks for your users, you should also store
# their organisation ID which will allow you to identify webhooks belonging to them.
current_user.update!(gocardless_access_token: access_token.token,
                     gocardless_organisation_id: access_token['organisation_id'])

// See https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gocardless/gocardless-pro-java-maven-example/master/src/main/java/hello/OAuthController.java

import okhttp3.FormBody;
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.RequestBody;
import okhttp3.Response;

import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

import java.io.IOException;

@RestController
public class OAuthController {
  private static final String accessTokenUrl =
          "https://connect-sandbox.gocardless.com/oauth/access_token";
  private static final String redirectUri =
          "https://bb314345.ngrok.io/redirect";
  private static final String clientID =
          System.getenv("GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_ID");
  private static final String clientSecret =
          System.getenv("GOCARDLESS_CLIENT_SECRET");

  private static final OkHttpClient client =
          new OkHttpClient();

  private String getAccessToken(String oauthCode) throws IOException {
      RequestBody body = new FormBody.Builder()
        .add("client_id", clientID)
        .add("client_secret", clientSecret)
        .add("redirect_uri", redirectUri)
        .add("grant_type", "authorization_code")
        .add("code", oauthCode)
        .build();

      Request request = new Request.Builder()
        .url(accessTokenUrl)
        .post(body)
        .build();
      try (Response response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
          return response.body().string();
      }
  }

  @GetMapping("/redirect")
  public String loggedIn(@RequestParam("code") String oauthCode) throws IOException {
      String accessToken = getAccessToken(oauthCode);
      System.out.println("Save the access token " +
              accessToken + " to your database.");
      return "Greetings!";
  }
}

Whether you are developing a mobile, web, or desktop application, it is important not to pass the client secret to your user’s device as it could be used to impersonate your app. The process of exchanging a code for an access token should be done on your server so your client secret can be kept private.

You’ll want to store this access token in your database for use in the future to make requests to the GoCardless API on your user’s behalf. Make sure you keep it safe and secure, as it gives full access to your user’s account.

Once your user has connected to your app, they can revoke your access from the GoCardless dashboard, or you can revoke (i.e. invalidate) their access token yourself using the API.

We’d also strongly advise storing your user’s GoCardless organisation ID. Later on, we’ll set up webhooks to keep your integration up to date as things happen to your users’ mandates and payments. You’ll need to use the organisation ID included in these webhooks to work out which of your users a particular event relates to.

If you didn't store the user's GoCardless organisation ID and want it later, you can find it out by looking up the access token using the API.

If the redirect URL isn’t the page where you ultimately want your user to arrive, you can redirect them from here to the right place, either before or after exchanging the code for an access token.

Once you’ve stored your merchant’s access token, we’d suggest presenting your customers with any relevant configuration options for the integration (e.g. setting how failed payments should be handled).

We’d also recommend providing in-product tips or links to support materials and letting customers know that they’ll need to verify their account in order to receive payouts (they’ll also receive emails from us reminding them to do this).

To get the best out of your integration, we’d suggest adding it to your onboarding experience and prompting merchants to set up with GoCardless at key points in their product journey (e.g. setting up an invoice, creating a customer, signing a contract etc.). From this process, you'd then send them into the OAuth flow. Take a look at some of our recommendations for bringing your integration to your users' attention here.
Helping your users get verified →