How it works
End-to-end EaaS setup - get a Connect account, generate API keys, subscribe to evidence webhooks, create merchant entities, and pick an integration pattern.
This page walks through the end-to-end setup for integrating Evidence-as-a-Service into your platform.
Obtain a Chargeflow Connect account
Chargeflow invites your team to a dedicated Connect account. From there you can generate API keys, register webhooks, and make your first EaaS calls. A dedicated sandbox is coming soon; until then, API keys act on your live account.
Info
Your account manager must enable EaaS on your Connect account before EaaS API calls will succeed. Without this entitlement, calls return 403_eaas_not_enabled.
Generate API keys and subscribe to webhooks
After accepting your invitation, navigate to the Developer Hub inside the Connect UI and generate your API keys. Keys act on your live account - see Test credentials.
Then subscribe to the two EaaS lifecycle webhooks:
| Event | Trigger | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
evidence.ready | Evidence generation completed. | A versioned PDF is ready for review and submission to your PSP. |
evidence.error | An error occurred during generation. | Chargeflow retries automatically; on final failure, sends detailed error info in the payload. |
Tip
Verify the signature on incoming webhook deliveries to confirm they originate from Chargeflow - see Webhooks for the verification flow.
For the full payload shapes and field references, see evidence.ready and evidence.error.
Create a merchant entity
For each merchant on your platform, create a corresponding Chargeflow account entity using the Accounts API. This tells Chargeflow who the merchant is so it can enrich their profile and tailor evidence strategies to their business.
Required fields: business_name, business_url, email, owner_name.
See Onboard a Merchant for the full request example.
Integration patterns
Once your merchants are set up, you can choose how to trigger evidence generation:
Platform-managed automation
Disputes are detected by your platform (via PSP webhooks or polling). When a dispute arrives in needs_response state, your platform calls the Generate Evidence API automatically, with no merchant action required.
This pattern provides the fastest response time and requires the least merchant involvement.
Merchant self-serve
Your platform creates a dispute record in Chargeflow and surfaces an "Generate Evidence" action in your merchant portal. Merchants can review and enrich the dispute with additional context via the Enrich a Dispute flow before triggering generation.
The platform always calls the Generate Evidence API; merchants never call it directly.