Checkr

Checkr is a background screening platform that runs employment background checks and ongoing monitoring through a REST API. The connector pulls candidates, reports, packages, invitations, nodes, geos, continuous checks, webhooks, and candidate documents, and pushes changes back to create and update candidates, invitations, reports, adverse actions, continuous checks, webhooks, and document uploads.

Power end-to-end data operations for your Checkr API with Nexla. Our bi-directional Checkr connector is purpose-built for Checkr, making it simple to ingest data, sync it across systems, and deliver it anywhere — all with no coding required. Nexla turns API-sourced data into ready-to-use, reusable data products and makes it easy to send data to Checkr or any other destination. With comprehensive monitoring, lineage tracking, and access controls, Nexla keeps your Checkr workflows fast, secure, and fully governed.

Features

Type: API

SourceDestination

• Seamless API Integration: Connect to any endpoint as source or destination without coding, with automatic data product creation
• Visual Composition & Chaining: Build complex integrations using visual templates, chain API calls, and compose workflows with data validation and filtering
• API Proxy: Expose curated slices of your data securely with a secure and customizable API proxy that validates and transforms data on the fly
• Request optimization with intelligent batching, retry, and caching to minimize API calls and costs

Prerequisites

Before creating a Checkr credential, you need a Secret API key from your Checkr account. Checkr authenticates API requests using HTTP Basic authentication, where your Secret API key is sent as the username and the password is left empty.

To obtain a Secret API key, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Checkr Dashboard using your account credentials.

2. Navigate to Account Settings > Developer Settings.

3. Click Create Key, and select Secret as the key type.

4. Copy the generated Secret API key and store it securely, as you will need it to configure your Nexla credential. The Secret key can perform any Checkr API request without restriction, so keep it confidential and never commit it to version control.

Checkr provides separate staging and production environments. Requests made with a staging key return fake data at no charge, while production keys run real background checks that incur charges. Use a staging Secret key for testing and development, and switch to a production Secret key only when you are ready to run live checks. You can expire a compromised key at any time from the same Developer Settings page. For complete details, see the Checkr API documentation.

Authenticate

Credentials required

Checkr uses HTTP Basic authentication with your Secret API key as the username and an empty password.

Field	Required	Secret	Description
Secret API Key	Yes	Yes	Your Checkr Secret API key, used as the Basic Auth username with an empty password. Found in the Checkr Dashboard under Account Settings > Developer Settings.

Create a credential in Nexla

1. After selecting the data source/destination type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.

2. Enter a name for the credential in the Credential Name field and a short, meaningful description in the Credential Description field.

3. Enter your Checkr Secret API key in the Secret API Key field. Nexla sends this key as the Basic Auth username with an empty password, which is the scheme Checkr expects. The Secret API key grants full access to your Checkr account and must be kept confidential.

4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source/destination creation.

Use as a data source

To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Select the Checkr connector tile, then select the credential that will be used to connect to Checkr, and click Next; or, create a new Checkr credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Checkr endpoints. Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below.

[Rest API] Candidates

List candidates who have submitted background check information.

[Rest API] Candidate

Retrieve a single candidate.

[Rest API] Report

Retrieve a single background check report.

[Rest API] Packages

List background check packages (bundles of screenings) configured for the account.

[Rest API] Package

Retrieve a single background check package.

[Rest API] Invitations

List invitations sent to candidates requesting background check information.

[Rest API] Invitation

Retrieve a single invitation.

[Rest API] Nodes

List nodes (organizational units, e.g. locations or business units) used to segment accounts.

[Rest API] Node

Retrieve a single node.

[Rest API] Geos

List geographic scopes (geos) configured for continuous check coverage.

[Rest API] Continuous Checks

List continuous checks (ongoing monitoring) for a candidate. Scoped per-candidate only -- no top-level bulk list endpoint exists.

[Rest API] Webhooks

List webhook endpoints configured to receive Checkr event notifications.

[Rest API] Candidate Documents

List documents uploaded for a candidate.

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu to retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched. Sample data will be displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right, allowing you to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

Manual configuration

Checkr data sources can also be manually configured to ingest data from any valid Checkr API endpoint, including endpoints not covered by the pre-built templates, chained API calls, or custom request parameters. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, endpoint URL, date/time and lookup macros, path to data, metadata, and request headers.

Once all of the relevant settings have been configured, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Checkr data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.

Use as a destination

Click the + icon on the Nexset that will be sent to the Checkr destination, and select the Send to Destination option from the menu. Select the Checkr connector from the list of available destination connectors, then select the credential that will be used to connect to Checkr, and click Next; or, create a new Checkr credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure destinations to send data to common Checkr endpoints. Select the endpoint to which data will be sent from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Then, click on the template in the list below to expand it, and follow the instructions to configure additional endpoint settings.

[Rest API] Create Candidate

Create a new candidate to run a background check on.

[Rest API] Update Candidate

Update an existing candidate's information.

[Rest API] Create Invitation

Invite a candidate to complete a background check application.

[Rest API] Create Report

Create a new background check report for a candidate and package.

[Rest API] Complete Report

Mark a draft report as complete so processing can begin.

[Rest API] Apply Report Review Action

Create an Adverse Action on a report (report must be in 'consider' status with no existing uncanceled Adverse Action).

[Rest API] Create Continuous Check

Enroll a candidate in ongoing continuous monitoring. Must be created under the candidate -- no top-level create endpoint exists.

[Rest API] Create Webhook

Register a new webhook endpoint for Checkr event notifications.

[Rest API] Upload Candidate Document

Upload a document (e.g. consent form) for a candidate.

Manual configuration

Checkr destinations can also be manually configured to send data to any valid Checkr API endpoint. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, data format, endpoint URL, request headers, attribute exclusions, record batching, and response webhooks.

Save & activate

Once all endpoint settings have been configured, click the Done button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the destination. To send the data to the configured Checkr endpoint, open the destination resource menu, and select Activate.

The Nexset data will not be sent to the Checkr endpoint until the destination is activated. Destinations can be activated immediately or at a later time, providing full control over data movement.