Adyen Payment API
Browse all Adyen APIs✓ Official Vendor SpecPaymentsPayment ProcessingapiKey, basic13 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Authorise, capture, cancel, and refund card payments through Adyen's classic server-to-server interface, including 3D Secure and 3DS2 step-up flows.
Use for: Authorise a card payment for a specified amount and currency, Capture a previously authorised payment in full or partially, Refund a captured card payment to the original card, Cancel an authorisation before it is captured
Not supported: Does not handle hosted checkout pages, payment method discovery, or payouts — use only for classic server-to-server card authorisation, capture, refund, and 3DS challenge completion.
The Adyen Payment API is the classic-integration interface for authorising, capturing, modifying, and reversing card and alternative-payment-method transactions on Adyen's payment platform. The 13 endpoints cover the full authorise-capture-refund lifecycle, plus 3D Secure 1 and 3DS2 step-up flows, donation collection, and technical cancellations by merchant reference. New integrations should use the Checkout API; the Payment API remains the right choice for legacy classic integrations and server-to-server card processing where the integrator collects the PAN.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Adyen Payment API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Adyen Payment API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Adyen Payment API.
Authorise a card payment via POST /authorise with card data, amount, and merchantAccount
Capture an authorised payment via POST /capture and refund a settled payment via POST /refund
Complete 3D Secure 1 challenges via POST /authorise3d and 3DS2 challenges via POST /authorise3ds2
Cancel an outstanding authorisation by pspReference via POST /cancel or by merchant reference via POST /technicalCancel
Adjust an existing authorised amount up or down via POST /adjustAuthorisation before capture
Combine cancel and refund logic in one call via POST /cancelOrRefund based on settlement state
Retrieve 3DS and 3DS2 authentication results via POST /getAuthenticationResult and POST /retrieve3ds2Result
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Adyen Payment API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Server-to-Server Card Authorisation and Capture
Merchants with classic integrations send card data directly to Adyen via POST /authorise, receive a pspReference, and later capture the funds via POST /capture when the order ships. The same flow handles 3D Secure 1 and 3DS2 step-up: an Authorised resultCode means the funds are reserved, while ChallengeShopper or RedirectShopper means the front end must collect the challenge and post the result to /authorise3d or /authorise3ds2.
Call POST /authorise with card.number, card.expiryMonth, card.expiryYear, card.cvc, amount, and merchantAccount, then POST /capture with originalReference and modificationAmount once the order ships
Refunds and Cancellations Lifecycle
When a customer cancels before settlement, POST /cancel voids the authorisation by pspReference. After settlement, POST /refund returns money to the original card. POST /cancelOrRefund chooses the right behaviour based on the current state, which is useful for support tooling that does not know whether a payment has captured yet. POST /technicalCancel handles the same void using the integrator's own reference rather than Adyen's pspReference.
Call POST /cancelOrRefund with originalReference set to the pspReference from the original authorisation and merchantAccount set to the merchant identifier
Authorisation Adjustment for Hospitality and Travel
Hotels, car rentals, and travel merchants frequently need to increase or decrease an authorised amount before final capture as the cart total changes. POST /adjustAuthorisation modifies the held amount on a still-open authorisation, preserving the original 3DS authentication context. This avoids re-authorising the card and going through 3DS again, which improves authorisation rates.
Call POST /adjustAuthorisation with originalReference, modificationAmount.value, and modificationAmount.currency to change the held amount on an open authorisation
AI Agent Payment Processing via Jentic
An agent processing refunds for customer service tickets searches Jentic for 'refund an Adyen card payment', loads the schema for /refund, and executes with the pspReference and amount from the ticket. Jentic injects the X-API-Key from the encrypted vault, so the agent never holds the raw secret. The agent receives the new pspReference for the refund modification and writes it back to the ticket.
Search Jentic for 'refund an Adyen card payment', load the refund schema, then execute with originalReference, modificationAmount, and merchantAccount from the support ticket
Key Endpoints
13 endpoints — the adyen payment api is the classic-integration interface for authorising, capturing, modifying, and reversing card and alternative-payment-method transactions on adyen's payment platform.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
POST
/authorise
Create a card authorisation
POST
/capture
Capture an authorised payment
POST
/refund
Refund a captured payment
POST
/cancel
Cancel an open authorisation
POST
/cancelOrRefund
Cancel or refund based on settlement state
POST
/authorise3ds2
Complete a 3DS2 challenge
POST
/adjustAuthorisation
Change an authorised amount
POST
/technicalCancel
Cancel using merchant reference
POST
/authorise
Create a card authorisation
POST
/capture
Capture an authorised payment
POST
/refund
Refund a captured payment
POST
/cancel
Cancel an open authorisation
POST
/cancelOrRefund
Cancel or refund based on settlement state
POST
/authorise3ds2
Complete a 3DS2 challenge
POST
/adjustAuthorisation
Change an authorised amount
POST
/technicalCancel
Cancel using merchant reference
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Adyen API keys and basic-auth credentials are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped access tokens at execution time — the raw X-API-Key value never enters the agent context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g., 'authorise a card payment' or 'refund a settled payment') and Jentic returns the matching authorise, capture, or refund operation with its full input schema, so the agent picks the right endpoint without browsing Adyen's classic-integration docs.
Time to first call
Direct Adyen Payment API integration: 3-5 days for credentials, 3DS2 challenge handling, capture timing logic, and webhook reconciliation. Through Jentic: under 1 hour — search, load, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Adyen Payment API through Jentic.
What authentication does the Adyen Payment API use?
The API supports an API key in the X-API-Key header (ApiKeyAuth) and HTTP Basic auth using web-service user credentials (BasicAuth), as declared in the OpenAPI spec. Through Jentic, the credential is held encrypted in the vault and the agent receives only a scoped execution token.
Can I process 3D Secure 2 payments with the Adyen Payment API?
Yes. POST /authorise initiates the payment and may return resultCode=ChallengeShopper or IdentifyShopper for 3DS2. The integrator collects the challenge result on the front end and submits it via POST /authorise3ds2; POST /retrieve3ds2Result fetches the final authentication outcome. The classic 3DS1 equivalents are /authorise3d and /getAuthenticationResult.
Should I use the Payment API or the Checkout API?
Use the Checkout API for any new integration; it includes Drop-in, Components, payment links, and 50+ payment methods out of the box. Use the Payment API when you have a classic server-to-server integration that already collects card PANs under PCI scope, or when you need direct authorise/capture/refund control without Checkout's session orchestration.
How do I refund an Adyen payment with the Payment API through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'refund an Adyen card payment', load the refund schema, then execute with originalReference set to the pspReference from the original authorisation, modificationAmount.value and modificationAmount.currency, and merchantAccount. Jentic injects X-API-Key from the encrypted vault. Get an account at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.
What are the rate limits for the Adyen Payment API?
Adyen does not publish a fixed quantitative rate limit in the spec; live throughput is provisioned per merchant account based on contract. If your integration receives HTTP 429 or saturation responses, contact Adyen support to raise the limit on the account.
Can I adjust the authorised amount after creating an authorisation?
Yes. POST /adjustAuthorisation lets you increase or decrease the held amount on an open authorisation by passing originalReference and a new modificationAmount. This preserves the original 3DS authentication and is the recommended pattern for hospitality, travel, and any flow where the final amount is known later than authorisation.
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