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Authorization

Follow this guide to create a new Chift credential that will allow Nexla to authenticate to and exchange data with your Chift account.
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Chift

Prerequisites​

Chift authenticates API requests using a JWT Bearer token. You do not call the Chift API with your API key directly—instead, Nexla exchanges your Client ID, Client Secret, and Account ID for a short-lived access token, then automatically attaches that token to every request. The token is valid for 30 minutes, and Nexla refreshes it as needed.

Before creating a credential, generate an API key in the Chift dashboard to obtain the Account ID, Client ID, and Client Secret values that the credential requires.

Generate a Chift API Key​

A Chift API key is the bundle of values—Account ID, Client ID, and Client Secret—used to generate the Bearer token. Each key is tied to a single environment, so a key created in the sandbox environment works only against sandbox data, and a key created in production works only against production data.

  1. Sign in to the Chift dashboard at https://app.chift.eu.

  2. Open the developer area and navigate to the API Keys section.

  3. Select the environment for which the key will be used:

    • Sandbox: Use this environment to build and test your integration against test data.

    • Production: Use this environment once you are ready to work with live customer data. A new key must be created in production—sandbox keys do not carry over.

  4. Click Create API Key (or the equivalent New API Key action) to generate a new key.

  5. Copy the Account ID, Client ID, and Client Secret values shown for the new key.

    Copy your credentials immediately

    The Client Secret is shown only once at creation time. Copy and store the Account ID, Client ID, and Client Secret in a secure location before leaving the page, as the secret cannot be retrieved again afterward.

For complete, current instructions on creating an API key, see the official Chift guide at Authenticate with Chift API.

Identify the Consumer ID​

Most Chift endpoints are scoped to a single consumer—the entity in Chift that represents one of your end customers and holds that customer's connections to their accounting, invoicing, POS, banking, or eCommerce software. Per-consumer requests are made against the /consumers/{consumer_id}/... path, so a Consumer ID is required to read from or write to those endpoints.

  1. In the Chift dashboard, open the Consumers section to view the consumers associated with your account.

  2. Select the consumer whose data you want to access, and copy its Consumer ID.

A consumer must have at least one active connection to a downstream tool (for example, an accounting or eCommerce platform) before its accounting, invoicing, commerce, banking, or payment endpoints will return data. New consumers and their connections can be created from the Chift dashboard or via the API.

Create a Chift Credential​

  • To create a new Chift credential, after selecting the data source/destination type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.

Credential Name & Description​

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

    Resource descriptions are recommended but are not required. They should be used provide information about the resource purpose, data freshness, etc. that can help the owner and other users efficiently understand and utilize the resource.

Authentication Settings​

Chift uses client credentials authentication. Nexla submits your Client ID, Client Secret, and Account ID to the Chift token endpoint, receives a Bearer access token, and includes that token on each subsequent API call automatically.

  1. Enter your Chift Client ID in the Client ID field. This value identifies your API key and is obtained from the Chift dashboard.

  2. Enter your Chift Client Secret in the Client Secret field. This value is paired with the Client ID to authenticate your API key and should be kept secure.

  3. Enter your Chift Account ID in the Account ID field. This is the UUID of your Chift account associated with the API key.

  4. Optionally, enter a Marketplace ID in the Marketplace ID field. This UUID is required only when you need a marketplace-scoped token; leave it blank for standard account-scoped access.

  5. Enter the Consumer ID in the Consumer ID field. This is the unique identifier of the consumer whose data will be accessed, and it is required for all per-consumer API endpoints.

    The Consumer ID is reused across data sources and destinations created with this credential. To work with multiple consumers, create a separate credential for each consumer, or override the consumer scope when configuring individual flows.

Save the Credential​

  1. Once all of the relevant steps in the above sections have been completed, click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay to save the configured credential.

  2. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source/destination creation and can be selected for use with a new data source or destination.