> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Ready for Commerce's API: the app's own operations for your programs, and an MCP server for your AI assistant.

Ready for Commerce's API is the app's own. Its screens, your programs and AI assistants call the same operations, under `/api/v1`: what a person of your organization does in the app, a program does with an API key of that organization, within the permissions the key holds.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Every operation is in beta until launch, so it may still change. The [changelog](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/changelog.md) lists
> each change and the operations it touches.

## Start here

**1. Create an API key**

A person of your organization creates it in the app, in **Settings › API and connections › API keys**: its name,
what it may do (**Read only**, **Full access** or **Custom** permissions) and when it expires. The key is shown
once, when it is created.

**2. Make your first call**

Send the key on every call as `Authorization: Bearer <key>`. [Your first call](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/first-call.md) shows three calls in
curl, Python, PHP and JavaScript, from checking the key to reading your organization.

**3. Follow the changelog**

Read the [changelog](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/changelog.md), or subscribe to its RSS feed, to know when an operation you use changes.

## How the API works

* **Two ways in.** Programs call the operations with an organization's API key. AI assistants connect to the MCP
  server at `https://app.readyforcommerce.com/api/mcp`: a person of the organization signs in and chooses what it may
  do, as for a key, and the assistant then calls the same operations as tools, never beyond that person's own role.
* **Some actions stay with a person.** The account, the people, the money and the credentials are handled only by a
  person in the app: deleting the organization or transferring it, members, invitations and roles, modules, the card
  and payments, and API keys and AI connections. They are not in the reference, and a key that calls one gets `403`
  with the code `core.human_only` and its reason in `params.reason`.
* **Long work runs as a job.** An operation that takes long, such as an import or an export, answers `202 Accepted`
  with a `jobId`. Follow it with [Get a job](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/api-reference/core-get-job.md) until it ends.
* **Errors say what went wrong.** A failed call answers `application/problem+json`, with a `code` that names the
  problem and `params` that hold its values. Each operation lists the codes it may answer.
* **The description is a file.** The reference is generated from the API's own code as an OpenAPI 3.1 description,
  at [https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/openapi/en.json](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/openapi/en.json), which you can load into your tools or generate a
  client from.

## Guides

> [card] [Authentication](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/authentication.md)
>
> Create an API key, send it on every call, keep it safe and replace it.

> [card] [Your first call](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/first-call.md)
>
> Check your key, then read your organization and its usage this month.

> [card] [Errors](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/errors.md)
>
> The shape of every error, and what to do with the common ones.

> [card] [Pagination](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/pagination.md)
>
> Read a whole list a page at a time, and search, filter and order it.

> [card] [Rate limits](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/rate-limits.md)
>
> The calls a key and an organization may make, and how to retry a write safely.

> [card] [Connect an AI](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/connect-an-ai.md)
>
> Work with your organization from Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant.

## Explore

> [card] [API reference](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/api-reference/introduction.md)
>
> Every operation, with its fields, its errors and examples in curl, Python, PHP and JavaScript.

> [card] [Changelog](https://developers.readyforcommerce.com/changelog.md)
>
> Every change to the API, newest first, also as an RSS feed.


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