Lab - Getting Started

In order to work with Catalog API, you must have a proper setup in Postman (or another REST client). This lab will walk you through the steps needed to activate a free Postman account, create an OAuth token for your storefront, and correctly set up an environment in Postman.

Prerequisites

• BigCommerce store (sandbox or live)
• Basic knowledge of APIs
• REST client (Postman)
• Access to the user account with Store Owner permissions

In this lab, you will:

• Install Postman
• Create an OAuth token from your sandbox store’s control panel
• Create a preset for request headers
• Create an environment in Postman for your sandbox store

Getting Started with Postman

Create a Postman Account

1. Navigate to postman.com
2. Click Sign up for Free
3. Fill out the form provided

Create an OAuth Token

1. Log in to your sandbox store

   Make sure you are logging in using the user account with Store Owner permissions. For more information, see the Store API Accounts article in the support portal.

2. Navigate to Settings > Store-level API Accounts

3. Click the Create API Account button

4. Select “V2/V3 API token” as the Token Type

5. Type a name for the API account

6. Copy the store hash from the API path

   The store hash is the alphanumeric string in the API path between /stores/ and /v3/. This string uniquely identifies this store when sending requests to https://api.bigcommerce.com/

   Example: API Path: https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/abcd1234/v3/ Store Hash: abcd1234

   The store hash can also be found in your Control Panel URL.

   Example: Control Panel URL: https://store-abcd1234.mybigcommerce.com/ Store Hash: abcd1234

7. Save the store hash somewhere that you can access to complete later steps in this lab activity

8. Configure OAuth scopes by making the adjustments below: under Products, click the modify button

9. Click the Save button

10. Copy the Access Token and store it in a place you can access later

Create an Environment in Postman

1. If it is not already open, open Postman

2. In the Workspace menu on the left side of the page, click the Environments tab

   

3. Click the + button to create a new environment

4. Type a name, such as “My Sandbox Store” into the Environment Name field

5. Create the following variables:

   Environment Variables

   Variable	Type	Initial Value	Current Value
   store_hash	Default	Paste your store hash	Paste your store hash
   v3_token	Default	Paste your Access Token copied from API account creation	Paste your Access Token copied from API account creation

6. Click Save

7. Before you make a call, you must assign the new environment. Above the Save button, click the drop down arrow next to “No Environment.” Select your new environment to assign.

Create a Preset for Request Headers

1. Open Postman

2. Navigate to your workspace

3. Click + to open a new tab

4. Click on the Headers tab

5. Click on Presets

6. Click Manage Presets

7. Click Add

8. Add the following presets

   Postman Presets

   Field	Value
   Accept	application/json
   Content-Type	application/json
   X-Auth-Token	{{v3_token}}

9. Click Add to save

10. Before you make a call, you must assign the headers. In the headers tab, click Presets, and Select your new presets to assign.