Build on the Partner API

How it works

Nobody reads documentation.

Here are the instructions for your agent. Give it this prompt: it reads the guides and the API contract, then walks you through the integration step by step, what to do, where and how.

Download agent instructions

This guide is for builders of a website or app on the Partner API.

The LivingSocial Partner API lets partners, creators and builders (and the AI coding assistants they build with) list eligible Groupon US offers on their own site from a synced copy of the catalog, mirror the shopper's cart at Groupon, and send the shopper to Groupon's checkout to pay. There is no search endpoint, and only US inventory is exposed.

End-to-end flow

text

1. Get your key      Sign in to this portal, register a storefront, create an API key
2. Sync catalog      GET /partner_storefront/products -> your database
                      (a full load, then a full resync every day; a delta every two hours
                      is optional)
3. Shopper browses    Your site renders offers from YOUR database
4. Add to cart        First item:  POST /partner_storefront/carts
                                    -> you receive cart `id` + `buyLink`
                       Later edits: POST/PATCH/DELETE on
                                    /partner_storefront/carts/{cartId}/items
5. Buy now             Your "Buy now" button href = the latest `buyLink` from any cart response
6. Pay at Groupon      Shopper pays on Groupon's checkout page
7. Return              Groupon redirects the shopper to YOUR redirect URL
                        with ?grouponOrderUuid=<uuid>
8. Confirm             GET /partner_storefront/bookings/{bookingId}
                        -> status + one "View on Groupon" link per purchased unit

Each step has its guide: Get your API key, Syncing the catalog, Managing the cart, Checkout and order confirmation, and Handling errors for every failure. Every endpoint and field is in the API documentation.

Calling the API

Every path is relative to https://api-core.livingsocial.com. Call the API from your server only, with your key as a Bearer token:

bash

curl -s "https://api-core.livingsocial.com/partner_storefront/products?country=US&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GROUPON_API_KEY" \
  -H "x-request-id: $(uuidgen)"

Header	When	Value
Authorization	Always	`Bearer` followed by your API key
Content-Type	POST, PATCH	`application/json`
x-request-id	Recommended	A UUID you make per request. An error echoes it as `details.requestId`: quote it to support.

Money is an integer in minor units: 2500 with currencyPrecision: 2 is $25.00.

Checkout, and earning commission with CJ

Buy now is the buyLink from the latest cart response, verbatim. Never build the checkout URL yourself.

Earning commission is optional and changes no code. Once your CJ (Commission Junction) publisher ID is on file (see Get your API key), the same buyLink becomes a CJ tracking link that leads to the same checkout, and commission is tracked and paid through CJ, per the CJ program terms.

On the Partner API, the shopper must reach checkout through your buyLink; any other route earns nothing. This is the Partner API's rule; the open agent API has no commission.