All calls to Real-Time Account Updater must include the following API headers:
HeaderFormatExampleDescription
X-DateUTC timestamp in ISO 8601 format2022-07-28T16:05:32.00Z with optional microseconds and ZThe date and time of the request
X-Client-Key32 character string538A4B83FEC409ECE24CE373A883A432 “data”The public ClientKey you obtained during onboarding
AuthorizationStringV1-HMAC-SHA256, Signature: Qj23jk3…(base64 encoded)What your code will generate when making the request
X-Merchant-IDString”9bb8592c-cb99-48f7-907e-f97de930fc5c”Identifies the merchant making the request
The first three headers are used for authentication, and the X-Merchant-ID clarifies which merchant sent the request. This merchant identification is especially important for platform providers; learn more below .

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Real-Time Authentication

When you make a call to Real-Time Account Updater, you’re requesting and receiving critical payment credentials and secure data for your customers. As such, we have gone beyond the simple API key approach to authentication and instead leverage a common HTTP REST-API pattern (AWS, Docusign, etc.) based on a keyed-HMAC (Hash Message Authentication Code) for authentication. This guide outlines how a developer authenticates and proves their identity to access the Real-Time Account Updater service.

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Authentication Credentials

When you first onboard with Real-Time Account Updater, open the Pagos Service Panel to generate an API Key pair:
If you have already created Action API keys (e.g. for Network Tokenization), you don’t need to create a new API Key pair.
1

Click your profile icon at the bottom of the main navigation.
2

Under Developers, click API Keys.
3

Click the Action API tab.
4

Under the Action API Keys header, click Create API Keys to add a new key pair to your account. A side panel will open with the new Client and Private key values.
5

Copy your new API key pair and store it somewhere secure. You can only view the Private Key value one time.
6

Click I’ve Copied My Keys to confirm and exit the side panel.
With every request you submit to Real-Time Account Updater, you must submit your public Client Key, along with a message signature that you generate using your public Client Key and your private Private Key combined with the request message itself. These details will be combined inside the HTTP headers as part of every request, as shown below. Once Pagos receives a request, we’ll also calculate a signature; if they match, we’ll proceed with the request. Otherwise, an error will be returned and we’ll drop the request as not authorized.

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Authentication Signature HTTP Headers

All calls must include an HMAC signature and at least these three headers:
HeaderFormatDescriptionExample
X-dateUTC timestamp in ISO 8601 formatThe date and time of the request2023-10-20T01:01:01.00Z (With optional microseconds and Z)
X-client-key32 character stringYour Client Key538A4B83FEC409ECE24CE373A883A432
AuthorizationStringThe Signature value will be generated using the Private Key at run time, after the account object is encryptedV1-HMAC-SHA256, Signature: Qj23jk3…(base64 encoded)

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Authentication Signature Algorithm

The requester code will combine the following data elements to form a string, and then use an HMAC library to compute the sha256 digest in base64 format:
  • Client Key
  • Date
  • Request Body
The signature will be in the format of the following example: 
signature = Base64 ( HmacSHA256 ( clientKey + date + requestBody\*\* ) );
Ensure the the requestBody contains messages using the accountEncrypted key, and the value is the encrypted account object as described in the Real-Time Account Updater Encryption guide. Don’t send account details in plain text using the account key.

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Merchant Identification

To better our Pagos users with merchant-to-platform hierarchies, we include an X-Merchant-ID attribute in the header that sits underneath the API User. The relationship between API User and merchant is 1..n; an API User can have n merchants but a merchant will be associated with only one API User. Pagos uses this merchant ID to pull the applicable network-specific MIDs to send to the networks for account updates. We’ll assign this unique merchant ID to you at the time of onboarding. If your business doesn’t operate as a platform, you’ll always use the same ID in the header of each call.