Authentication

There are two ways to authenticate with the 7shifts API. Which one you use depends on whose 7shifts data you need to access.

	Access Token	OAuth Client
Who it's for	Everyone building for their own company and non vetted integrators	Vetted 7shifts partners only
Accesses data for	Single company access only	Any customer who grants your app access
How to get it	Create it yourself in 7shifts	Apply to the 7shifts Partnerships team
Time to first API call	A few minutes	Contact our Partnership team to get started
Token lifetime	Long-lived	1 hour

Which one do I need?

Use an access token if you are:

A restaurant or restaurant group building an internal tool, script, or report against your own 7shifts data
Connecting 7shifts to a no-code tool like Zapier
A consultant or contractor building something for a single client's 7shifts account
Evaluating the API or building a proof of concept
A non vetted integrator connecting to few 7shifts companies

You need an OAuth client only if you are:

Building a product that other 7shifts customers will connect to their own accounts
Distributing an integration to multiple 7shifts customers you don't control

📘
If you're not sure, use an access token.
Access tokens can do everything the API supports for a single company. You do not need an OAuth client to build a complete, production integration for your own business.

Getting started with an access token

In 7shifts, go to Company Settings → Developer Tools.
Under Access Tokens, select Create Access Token.
Give it a descriptive name (for example, Production POS or Zapier integration).
Assign an active company admin as the technical contact.

Then send the token as a bearer token:

curl --request GET --url 'https://api.7shifts.com/v2/companies' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}'

That's it, no other steps are required.

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Inactive tokens are removed after 6 months
Access tokens with no API activity for more than 6 months are removed automatically. Requests using a removed token will fail with a 401 Unauthorized. If a token is removed, create a new one under Company Settings → Developer Tools and replace it in your integration.

See the Authentication reference for editing, versioning, and deleting tokens.

About OAuth clients

OAuth clients are issued only to vetted 7shifts partners, where a partnership is established, either commercial or technical that may include marketing, knowledge base articles, promotions, and a contract.

Becoming a partner is not a request you can self-serve or opt into. The process involves:

Partnership review — our Partnerships team assesses market opportunity and technical alignment.
Technical certification — we verify your integration is built to 7shifts standards and gather the information used for our internal and customer-facing support documentation.

If you need to start building now against your own company's data, use an access token. Once an OAuth client has been granted you will receive a development account, and can request additional development or staging OAuth clients to meet your needs.

If you believe your product is a fit for a 7shifts partnership, start at Become a Partner.

Already have an OAuth client? See the OAuth Authentication guide for the full flow.