canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/nowpayments.io/nowpayments-api

# NOWPayments API

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for NOWPayments API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. NOWPayments is a non-custodial cryptocurrency payment processor that accepts a wide range of crypto assets and settles funds to a merchant's outcome wallet in the coin of their choice. The API covers payment creation and status tracking, payouts, recurring crypto subscriptions with billing plans, and a sub-partner billing model for platforms reselling the service. Merchants can verify IPN callback signatures with HMAC SHA-512 to confirm payment state changes and reconcile orders.

## For AI agents

Accept cryptocurrency payments, run recurring crypto subscriptions, send payouts, and track payment status across 100+ digital assets through a non-custodial gateway.

## Scope

Does not handle fiat card processing, KYC, or chargebacks - use for cryptocurrency payment acceptance and crypto-denominated subscriptions only.

## Capabilities

- Create cryptocurrency payments and retrieve a deposit address for the customer to send funds to
- Estimate the crypto amount needed to cover a fiat-denominated order before checkout
- Track payment status and reconcile state changes through HMAC SHA-512 signed IPN callbacks
- Manage recurring crypto subscription plans and individual subscriber records
- Verify payouts to merchant wallets and list completed transfers
- Retrieve sub-partner balances and transfer history for white-label crypto billing

## Use cases

### Crypto Checkout for Online Stores

Accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and 100+ other cryptocurrencies at checkout while settling proceeds to a single outcome wallet of the merchant's choice. NOWPayments handles minimum-amount checks, real-time price estimation, and IPN callbacks so the storefront can mark orders paid as soon as a transaction confirms. Integration is non-custodial - funds route directly from customer to merchant wallet without NOWPayments holding balances.

Example prompt: Create a payment for $99 USD priced in BTC, return the deposit address and pay_amount to the storefront, then poll GET /v1/payment/{payment_id} until status is finished.

### Recurring Crypto Subscriptions

Operate SaaS-style recurring billing where customers pay each cycle in cryptocurrency. NOWPayments maintains subscription plans with price, currency, and interval, plus individual subscriber records that can be paused, updated, or deleted. Useful for membership sites, premium content, and any business that needs predictable crypto revenue without writing custodial billing logic.

Example prompt: List all subscription plans with GET /v1/subscriptions/plans, then update plan-id 7 to a new price using PATCH /v1/subscriptions/plans/{plan-id}.

### Sub-Partner Billing for Platforms

Resellers and platforms manage many merchant balances under one NOWPayments account using the sub-partner API. Each sub-partner has an isolated balance and transfer history, which lets a marketplace or billing platform attribute crypto revenue per tenant and move funds between accounts. This avoids commingled wallets and simplifies reconciliation for platform operators.

Example prompt: Fetch the balance for sub-partner id 4521 with GET /v1/sub-partner/balance/{id} and list its recent transfers via GET /v1/sub-partner/transfers.

### Agent-Driven Crypto Reconciliation

An accounting agent reconciles crypto payments by listing recent payments through Jentic, matching each payment_id to internal order records, and flagging mismatches. Because Jentic resolves the NOWPayments operation set from a natural-language query, the agent does not need to maintain hand-written client code as the API evolves.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'check crypto payment status', load the GET /v1/payment/{payment_id} schema, and execute it for each open invoice id in the accounting backlog.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | /v1/estimate | Estimate the crypto amount required to cover a fiat-priced order |
| GET | /v1/min-amount | Get the minimum acceptable payment amount for a currency pair |
| GET | /v1/payment/{payment_id} | Get the current status of a payment |
| GET | /v1/payment/ | List all payments on the merchant account |
| POST | /v1/payout/{withdrawals-id}/verify | Verify a payout to a merchant wallet |
| GET | /v1/subscriptions | List recurring crypto subscriptions |
| PATCH | /v1/subscriptions/plans/{plan-id} | Update a subscription plan |
| GET | /v1/sub-partner/balance/{id} | Get a sub-partner's balance |

## Key resources

- **Payments** — Create payments, fetch payment status, and list historical payments
- **Subscriptions** — Manage recurring crypto subscription plans and subscriber records
- **Payouts** — Verify outbound transfers from the NOWPayments account to a merchant wallet
- **Sub-partners** — Manage balances and transfers for nested merchant accounts under a platform operator

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring NOWPayments by hand means setting up its x-api-key header against api.nowpayments.io and threading it through estimate, payment, and subscription calls yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the NOWPayments API from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** NOWPayments creates payments from the request body, with only lookups keyed by path, so scope the agent to the operations it needs, such as estimating a price and reading payment status. You choose that set, so verifying a payout or patching a subscription plan is not included unless you add it.
- **Credential handling:** Your NOWPayments API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time as the x-api-key header. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'create a crypto payment' or 'check payment status', and Jentic returns the matching NOWPayments operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Stripe** — Card-and-wallet payment processor for fiat checkouts; pick this when crypto is not required.
- **Adyen Account Service** — Enterprise card and alternative-payment platform with multi-region acquiring.
- **PayPal Payments** — Add PayPal wallet alongside crypto for buyers who do not hold cryptocurrency.

## FAQ

### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for NOWPayments API?

NOWPayments does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call NOWPayments API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### What authentication does the NOWPayments API use?

NOWPayments uses an API key passed as a header on every request. Through Jentic, the API key is held in the encrypted vault and only injected into the outbound request - the agent never sees the raw key in its context. Sign up for a key in the NOWPayments dashboard before issuing calls.

### Can I run recurring crypto subscriptions with the NOWPayments API?

Yes. The API exposes subscription plans (GET, PATCH on /v1/subscriptions/plans) and individual subscriber records (GET, DELETE on /v1/subscriptions/{sub_id}). Create a plan with price and currency, attach subscribers, and NOWPayments handles each cycle's invoice generation.

### How are NOWPayments IPN callbacks secured?

Each IPN POST includes an x-nowpayments-sig header containing an HMAC SHA-512 of the JSON body sorted alphabetically by key, signed with the IPN secret stored in your store settings. Always recompute the signature server-side and reject any callback whose signature does not match.

### How do I check a crypto payment status with the NOWPayments API through Jentic?

Search Jentic with the query 'check crypto payment status', load the GET /v1/payment/{payment_id} operation schema, then execute it with the payment_id you stored when the payment was created. The result includes payment_status, actually_paid, and outcome_amount.

### What is the difference between the standard payment flow and the invoice flow?

The standard flow returns a deposit address that the customer sends crypto to directly, while the invoice flow (POST Create Invoice) returns a hosted URL with a success_url redirect. Use the invoice flow for low-touch checkout pages and the standard flow when you render the payment UI yourself.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the NOWPayments API?

Yes. Jentic One is self-hosted, so your own rules decide which NOWPayments operations and credentials the agent may use. You can grant only the operations it needs, such as estimating a price with GET /v1/estimate and reading payment state with GET /v1/payment/{payment_id}, while leaving out riskier calls like verifying a payout or patching a subscription plan. Those write operations stay off limits until you explicitly add them to the agent's allowed set.