canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/cs-cart.com

# CS-Cart APIs

CS-Cart is an e-commerce platform for running single-vendor stores and multi-vendor marketplaces. Its APIs expose the storefront lifecycle over HTTP: managing the product catalogue and category tree, handling carts and checkout, processing orders and shipments, configuring payment methods, and administering customer and admin users. Jentic makes both the CS-Cart 2.0 surface and the version 4 REST surface available to AI agents, so an agent can read and write storefront data without a bespoke integration per store.

## For AI agents

An agent can run a CS-Cart storefront end-to-end: create and update products, reorganise the category tree, inspect and progress orders, manage carts, track shipments, configure payment methods, and administer customer and admin users across both the CS-Cart 2.0 API and the version 4 REST surface.

## Scope

Use for: Managing a self-hosted CS-Cart storefront over its API: product catalogue and categories, orders and fulfilment status, carts, shipments, payment method configuration, CMS pages, and customer and admin users.

Not supported:
- payment processing
- shipping rate quoting
- shipping label generation
- hosting infrastructure
- storefront theme rendering

## APIs

| API | Category | Endpoints | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CS-Cart API | e-commerce | 57 | Run a CS-Cart 2.0 storefront end-to-end: catalogue management, cart and checkout, order fulfilment, shipments, payments, and CMS pages. |
| CS-Cart REST API | e-commerce | 19 | Manage products, categories, orders, and users on a CS-Cart 4 storefront through a 19-endpoint REST surface. |

## Which API to use

| Need | API | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Full storefront operations including carts, shipments, payment methods, and CMS pages | main | The CS-Cart 2.0 API spans 57 endpoints covering the whole lifecycle from catalogue through checkout, fulfilment, and content. |
| Core product, category, order, and user management on a CS-Cart 4 store | cs-cart | The version 4 REST surface exposes full CRUD across the major storefront entities in a tighter 19-endpoint set. |
| Reading or writing products and categories | main | Use the 2.0 API when you also need carts, shipments, payments, or CMS pages in the same workflow. |
| Reading or writing products and categories | cs-cart | Use the version 4 REST surface when the workflow only touches products, categories, orders, and users. |

## Cross-API use cases

### Catalogue write plus lifecycle operations

Use the version 4 REST surface to bulk create and update products and categories from a source of truth like a PIM, then switch to the CS-Cart 2.0 API to drive the parts of the storefront the slimmer surface does not reach, such as reviewing carts, tracking shipments, and publishing CMS pages. An agent can keep merchandising in one place while still operating checkout and fulfilment.

Example prompt: Create or update products through the version 4 REST surface, then call the CS-Cart 2.0 API to update shipment status and publish a related CMS page.

### Order reconciliation across store versions

For merchants operating both a CS-Cart 4 store and a CS-Cart 2.0 store, an agent can list and inspect orders from each surface and reconcile them into a single downstream system such as an ERP or data warehouse. Reading orders through both APIs gives finance one consolidated view across store versions.

Example prompt: Poll orders from both the version 4 REST surface and the CS-Cart 2.0 API, normalise the line items and totals, and post each order into the ERP.

### Customer sync with fulfilment follow-up

Create or update customer records through either surface and then use the CS-Cart 2.0 API to inspect the customer's orders, carts, and shipments so an agent can answer support questions or trigger fulfilment follow-up. This joins user administration with the order and shipment detail only the broader surface exposes.

Example prompt: Create or update the customer through the version 4 REST surface, then call the CS-Cart 2.0 API to list that customer's orders and shipments for a support reply.

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the CS-Cart APIs by hand means building the Basic auth pair from an admin email and API key, resolving your own store domain into the base URL, and handling retries across dozens of endpoints on two surfaces. With Jentic you install once, add the CS-Cart APIs you need from the Jentic API Directory, store the email and API key once, and your agent calls both surfaces with the same setup.
- **Permission scoping:** CS-Cart puts the resource id in the URL path for products, orders, and users across both APIs, so a rule can pin your agent to a specific resource. You choose which operations the agent may call, so writes like creating or updating a product are not included unless you add them, and read-only workflows stay read-only.
- **Credential handling:** Your CS-Cart admin email and API key are stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. They cover both API surfaces and never enter the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search the Jentic directory by intent such as 'add a product to a CS-Cart store' or 'update an order status', and Jentic returns the matching CS-Cart operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint on the right surface without browsing the reference docs.

## Related vendors

- **Shopify** — Hosted e-commerce platform with managed REST and GraphQL admin APIs, an alternative when a merchant wants managed scaling rather than a self-hosted store.
- **Magento** — Open-source e-commerce platform with a broad REST surface and deeper B2B features, an alternative for teams comfortable operating a heavier self-hosted stack.
- **Stripe** — Payments and subscription billing that complement a CS-Cart storefront when the agent needs to reconcile charges or refunds against orders.

## FAQ

### What can an AI agent do across the CS-Cart APIs?

An agent can manage the product catalogue and category tree, inspect and progress orders, review in-progress carts, track shipments, configure payment methods, publish CMS pages, and administer customer and admin users. The CS-Cart 2.0 API covers the full storefront lifecycle across 57 endpoints, while the version 4 REST surface offers a tighter 19-endpoint slice for products, categories, orders, and users.

### Which CS-Cart API should I use?

Use the CS-Cart 2.0 API when a workflow needs carts, shipments, payment methods, or CMS pages, since it is the broader surface. Use the version 4 REST surface when the workflow only touches products, categories, orders, and users on a CS-Cart 4 store. Both authenticate the same way, so an agent can move between them without new credentials.

### Do the two CS-Cart APIs share credentials?

Yes. Both surfaces use HTTP Basic authentication with the store admin email and a generated API key, so a single admin credential pair works for both. Each request is still templated against the specific store's own domain, so the store URL is configured per store.

### Does CS-Cart publish an official OpenAPI specification?

CS-Cart does not publish its own OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains the specs for the version 4 REST surface and the read-focused slice, keeping them validated against the live API so agents and developers can call them through structured tooling.

### Is CS-Cart self-hosted, and how does that affect the APIs?

CS-Cart is a self-hosted platform, so the store runs on the merchant's own infrastructure and every API request is templated against that store's own domain. There is no shared hosted tenant, and throughput is bounded by the host's PHP-FPM and database capacity rather than a published application rate limit.

### Are the CS-Cart APIs free to use?

API access is included with every CS-Cart license at no separate per-call charge. CS-Cart sells annual and perpetual licenses with multiple editions, and license pricing is published at https://www.cs-cart.com/buy-license.html.

### Can I run both a CS-Cart 4 store and a CS-Cart 2.0 store from one agent?

Yes. The version 4 REST surface and the CS-Cart 2.0 API can both be added to your workspace, and an agent can read and reconcile orders, products, and customers across both store versions into a single downstream system such as an ERP or data warehouse.