Helcim The Helcim API

Name: The Helcim API
Brand: The Helcim API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentPaymentsPayment ProcessingapiKey28 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Process card payments, manage customers and stored cards, and settle batches with Helcim across 28 endpoints.

Install Jentic One Beta

Connect the The Helcim API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the The Helcim 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.

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 | sh

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 instance

Jentic 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 The Helcim API.

Process a purchase, preauth, capture, verify, refund, reverse, or withdraw transaction via the /payment/* endpoints

Retrieve a card transaction by id via GET /card-transactions/{cardTransactionId}

Settle an open card batch via POST /card-batches/{cardBatchId}/settle

GET STARTED

Start building with The Helcim API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use The Helcim API for, with concrete tasks.

★ E-Commerce Checkout

An online store accepts card payments by calling POST /payment/purchase with the order amount and tokenised card. Helcim handles authorisation, capture, and settlement; the store receives the transaction id to attach to the order. Refunds and reversals are issued through the matching /payment/refund or /payment/reverse endpoint when needed.

Call POST /payment/purchase with amount, currency, and a card token, then store the returned transactionId on the order

Preauth and Delayed Capture

A hotel preauthorises the card at check-in via POST /payment/preauth and captures the final amount at check-out via POST /payment/capture once incidentals are settled. Helcim manages the auth-hold lifecycle so the merchant only captures what was actually used.

Call POST /payment/preauth on check-in, then POST /payment/capture with the preauth id and final amount on check-out

Recurring Customer Card Vault

A subscription business stores customers and their cards in Helcim and charges them on each renewal. The /customers and /customers/{customerId}/cards endpoints supply the vaulted card; POST /payment/purchase against that customer charges the stored card without re-collecting card details.

List a customer's cards via GET /customers/{customerId}/cards and call POST /payment/purchase using the chosen card id to renew their subscription

AI Agent Payment Operations Assistant

An ops agent answers 'refund last Tuesday's $120 charge to John Smith' by searching Jentic for the right Helcim operation, loading /payment/refund, and executing it with the resolved transaction id. The agent never sees the API token; Jentic injects it server-side.

Search Jentic for 'refund a helcim transaction', load POST /payment/refund, and execute it with the original transaction id and amount

Key Endpoints

28 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for the helcim api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/payment/purchase

Process a purchase transaction

POST

/payment/preauth

Pre-authorise a card

POST

/payment/capture

Capture a previously authorised amount

POST

/payment/refund

Refund a transaction

POST

/payment/reverse

Reverse a transaction

POST

/card-batches/{cardBatchId}/settle

Settle an open card batch

GET

/customers/{customerId}

Retrieve a customer profile

GET

/customers/{customerId}/cards

List a customer's stored cards

POST

/payment/purchase

Process a purchase transaction

POST

/payment/preauth

Pre-authorise a card

POST

/payment/capture

Capture a previously authorised amount

POST

/payment/refund

Refund a transaction

POST

/payment/reverse

Reverse a transaction

Why Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Helcim API tokens are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped access tokens — the raw merchant token never enters the agent's prompt or chat context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g. 'process a credit card payment' or 'refund a transaction') and Jentic returns the matching Helcim operation with its body schema, including the choice between /payment/refund and /payment/reverse based on settlement state.

Time to first call

Direct integration: 2-4 days for auth, error mapping, and settlement workflows. Through Jentic: under an hour — search, load, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Stripe API

Stripe is the dominant global card processor — broader feature set than Helcim's North American focus

Choose Stripe for global coverage and a wider product surface; choose Helcim for Canadian merchants prioritising interchange-plus pricing

Alternative

Square API

Square offers payments plus point-of-sale hardware, an alternative for omnichannel merchants

Pick Square when in-person POS hardware matters; pick Helcim for online merchants seeking transparent pricing

Alternative

PayPal Payments API

PayPal supports cards plus its wallet, a broader alternative to Helcim's card-focused processing

Use PayPal when the customer base wants wallet checkout; use Helcim for direct card processing

Complementary

Recurly API

Recurly handles subscription billing logic that can sit on top of a Helcim payment gateway

Use Recurly for subscription state, dunning, and invoicing; use Helcim as the underlying card processor

FAQs

Specific to using The Helcim API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for The Helcim API?

Helcim publishes API documentation but the maintained OpenAPI source available is the Konfig examples version. Jentic generates and maintains a clean spec so AI agents and developers can call Helcim via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does The Helcim API use?

Helcim uses an API token sent in the api-token header (ApiAccessAuth scheme). Through Jentic, the token is stored encrypted in the vault and the agent receives scoped access at execution time.

Can I issue a refund through the Helcim API?

Yes. POST /payment/refund refunds a previously settled transaction; for a transaction that hasn't yet settled, use POST /payment/reverse instead.

What are the rate limits for The Helcim API?

The OpenAPI spec does not publish hard rate limits; Helcim applies fair-use limits per merchant account. For batch settlement and reporting jobs, GET /connection-test first to confirm the token is healthy before bulk traffic.

How do I process a purchase through Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, have the agent search for 'process a credit card payment with helcim', load POST /payment/purchase, and execute it with amount, currency, and a card token.

Does Helcim support a customer card vault?

Yes. The /customers and /customers/{customerId}/cards endpoints store customer profiles and tokenised cards so subsequent purchases can charge a stored card by id without re-collecting card details.