What authentication does the Printful API use?

OAuth 2.0 only. Printful retired API-key Basic authentication, and sending a Basic credential now returns 401 with the message that Basic API token authentication is no longer supported and directing you to create an OAuth 2.0 token instead. You generate a private token or install a public app in Printful's developer portal, then send it as an Authorization Bearer header. Scopes narrow what a token can reach, for example orders/read for read-only order access, and an account-level token adds an X-PF-Store-Id header to pick a store. Eight operations declare no security requirement: the three catalog product and variant lookups, the two category lookups, GET /countries, GET /tax/countries, and POST /tax/rates. Seven of them still answer without a credential; POST /tax/rates now returns 410 for every caller because Printful retired it. Your token is stored encrypted by your own self-hosted Jentic One instance and injected at execution time, so it never enters the agent's prompt or logs.

What are the rate limits for the Printful API?

Printful documents a general rate limit of 120 API calls per minute and states that endpoints performing resource-intensive operations have a lower allowed request limit. The named examples are the mockup generator at 10 requests per 60 seconds for established stores and 2 requests per 60 seconds for new stores, unauthenticated catalog reads at 30 requests per 60 seconds, and the shipping rate endpoint at 120 requests per 60 seconds, dropping to 5 requests per 60 seconds when an order summary exceeds 100 items. A 60 second lockout applies once a limit is exceeded. Printful's status table lists 419 as a rate-limited warning alongside 429 for too many requests, so handle both.

Can I generate product mockups with the Printful API?

Yes. Use POST /mockup-generator/create-task/{id} to submit a mockup generation task with your design file and product ID. Then poll GET /mockup-generator/task to check completion status. The API also provides GET /mockup-generator/templates/{id} to see available mockup templates and GET /mockup-generator/printfiles/{id} for print file specifications.

How do I calculate shipping costs before placing an order through Jentic?

The POST /shipping/rates endpoint returns available shipping methods with costs and estimated delivery times for a given item list and destination address. Your agent finds it by intent rather than by reading the reference: it asks Jentic for something like 'calculate printful shipping rates', gets the matching operation and its input schema back, and calls it. Install self-hosted Jentic One with 'curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh' on the machine that will host your instance, then run 'jentic register' on the separate machine where your agent runs. Keeping the agent off the instance box matters before real credentials are involved, because an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly, which the Jentic One hardening guide covers.

Can I sync Printful products with my Shopify or WooCommerce store?

Yes. The Store Products endpoints (GET /store/products, POST /store/products, PUT /store/products/{id}) manage synced products between Printful and your connected e-commerce platform. You can list synced products, create new sync mappings, update variant details, and add new variants to existing synced products via POST /store/products/{id}/variants.

Is there a Printful MCP server, and how do I connect Printful to Claude or my agent?

We found no Printful-published MCP server: searching Printful's developer documentation and its llms.txt index returns no mention of MCP or the Model Context Protocol, and Printful's bound specification contains none either. Connect Printful through self-hosted Jentic One instead. Jentic One runs on your infrastructure, holds the OAuth token, and exposes Printful's operations to your agent over the operations and scopes you allow, so an agent in Claude or any other client reaches Printful without being handed the token.

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

Yes. Because Jentic One is self-hosted, you run it and your own rules decide which Printful operations and credentials the agent can use. You can allow only read calls like GET /products and POST /shipping/rates while withholding write operations such as POST /orders or POST /orders/{id}/confirm, so the agent cannot confirm an order for production unless you add that operation. Since Printful puts the order and product ID in the URL path, you can also pin a rule to specific orders or products, and your stored OAuth or private token is injected at execution time without ever entering the agent's prompt or logs.