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Cloud Integration

To initiate payments on a terminal via the cloud you make use of our CloudFlow API. This solution is designed to allow merchants to connect to a payment terminal without the need to setup and manage any local network connections or settings. As long as the POS and the terminal are connected to the Internet then payment initiation can be performed.

In order to achieve this, the platform exposes a number of HTTP REST APIs and a WebSocket connection. These enable online communication between Point of Sale clients and payment terminals. The APIs allow a POS client to initiate transactions with a connected payment device and eventually receive a response back from that transaction. The platform supports WebSockets for bi-directional communication between POS clients and payment devices. Responses can be received either directly via this WebSocket or asynchronously via a webhook callback.

cloud-flow-overview

The normal process your POS application goes through is

  1. Your POS application makes an API payment request to initiate a payment.
  2. The platform routes the request to your payment terminal device, to start the payment on the device.
  3. The endpoint device them sends the transaction response and any other events to the platform.
  4. You receive the transaction response synchronously or asynchronously, depending on how you setup your integration:
  • Synchronously - when your POS app makes a request via a WebSocket and keeps the connection open until the transaction response and all messages are received.
  • Asynchronously - your POS application calls a REST API to initiate the payment and you receive the transaction response events via a webhook callback on your own servers.

Partners integrating with the platform fully will use the Endpoint Instance API to setup and manage devices. In this way, the management of merchant accounts and connected devices is handled by the platform.