Centra

This guide is intended for Centra merchants who are connecting their store to Violet. During this process, the merchant will create API credentials in their Centra AMS dashboard and then provide them to Violet through the Violet Connect onboarding tool. The merchant will retain full control of the created credentials and can revoke them at any time from within their Centra AMS dashboard. Total time for completion is around 5-10 minutes.

Step 1: Creating an Integration API Token

The Integration API Token is required to connect your Centra store to Violet. It allows Violet to sync your products and manage orders on your behalf.

1. Within your Centra AMS dashboard, navigate to System > Api Tokens.

2. Click "+ Integration API TOKEN".

3. Enter a description for the token (e.g., "Violet integration").

4. Select the required permissions — at minimum: Products, Orders, Customers, and Markets.

5. Set the token expiration. The default is 30 days; for production use, set a longer expiration or no expiration.

6. Click Create and copy the generated token. Keep this token available for Step 4 of this guide.

Use minimal permissions in production. You can monitor extensions.permissionsUsed in API responses during testing to identify exactly which permissions are needed.

For more details, see Authorization | centra.dev.

Step 2: Locating Your Checkout API Shared Secret (Optional)

The Checkout API Shared Secret enables real-time cart calculations including shipping rates and tax. If not provided, Violet will fall back to local cart calculation.

1. In your Centra AMS dashboard, navigate to the Checkout API plugin in the plugin list.

2. Open the plugin settings.

3. Locate the "Shared Secret" field.

4. Copy the shared secret value and keep it available for Step 4 of this guide.

For more details, see Storefront API Plugin Setup | centra.dev.

Step 3: Configuring Webhooks (Optional)

Webhooks allow Centra to notify Violet of changes to your products, orders, and other data in real time. The Webhook Endpoint Secret ensures these notifications are authentic.

1. In your Centra AMS dashboard, navigate to the Webhook plugin in the plugin list.

2. Set the Webhook URL to the Violet webhook endpoint provided during onboarding.

3. Enter or generate an Endpoint Secret and copy the value for Step 4 of this guide.

4. Configure the event types to send:

   • Integration API events: Order, Shipment, Customer, Account, Check First, Allocation Request, Return

   • Storefront API events: Display Items, Categories, Pricelists, Markets, Collections, Brands, Languages, Campaign Sites, Affiliates, Brick and Mortars

5. Recommended settings: Max events = 10, Timeout = 5s, Retries = 2.

For more details, see Centra Webhooks | centra.dev.

Step 4: Provide Credentials to Violet

Once you have your credentials, return to the Violet Connect onboarding tool and enter the following:

1. When prompted for your store URL, enter your Centra instance URL including the protocol (e.g., https://yourbrand.centra.com).

2. Enter your Integration API Token obtained in Step 1 in the "Integration API Token" field.

3. (Optional) Enter your Checkout API Shared Secret obtained in Step 2 in the "Checkout API Shared Secret" field.

4. (Optional) Enter your Webhook Endpoint Secret obtained in Step 3 in the "Webhook Endpoint Secret" field.

Once entered, click the Connect button to validate the credentials and complete the connection between your store and Violet. If the credentials are invalid you should check for any spaces or other copy/paste errors and try again.

Upon success you will be redirected back to the channel who first sent you to Violet.

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Credential Summary

Credential	Required	Where to Find
Store URL	Yes	Your Centra AMS admin URL (e.g., https://yourbrand.centra.com)
Integration API Token	Yes	System > Api Tokens > + Integration API TOKEN
Checkout API Shared Secret	No	Checkout API plugin settings > Shared Secret
Webhook Endpoint Secret	No	Webhook plugin settings > Endpoint Secret

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Special Considerations

Token Expiration

Integration API tokens default to a 30-day expiration. If your token expires, the connection to Violet will stop working until a new token is provided. For production use, we recommend setting a longer expiration or no expiration when creating the token.

Revoking Credentials

You can revoke your Integration API token at any time by navigating to System > Api Tokens, selecting the token, and clicking Revoke. This will immediately disconnect your store from Violet.