# Platforms overview (https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/platforms/overview) You are an ISV, platform, or PSP whose merchants get chargebacks, and you need to give them a dispute product without building a dispute team. Connect is that product, delivered as infrastructure you put your own name on. ## What Connect is [#what-connect-is] **Connect - "Chargeflow for Platforms"** - is the horizontal offering in the [Chargeflow product model](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/reference/start-here/product-model): the [Prevent](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/merchants/prevent), [Alerts](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/merchants/alerts) and [Automation](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/merchants/overview) stack, exposed so your platform can offer it to the merchants it already serves. It is a B2B2B product - three parties, one relationship: | Party | Role | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Chargeflow** | Runs the engine. The dispute expertise was built on the merchant side of the market first, across many payment service providers, before the first platform integration. | | **Your platform** | Delivers that expertise as a product under its own brand, with no dispute infrastructure to build. | | **The merchant** | Is protected inside the product they already use. Never has to become a chargeback expert, and never has to see Chargeflow. | Connect sells to platforms, not to their merchants. What you buy is the dispute lifecycle, at the level of control you choose. ## Core capabilities [#core-capabilities] | Capability | What it means for you | | ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Onboard and manage merchants** | Invite merchants to a co-branded portal or activate them instantly, then track each one's dispute activity and recovery performance. See [Merchants](./connect/merchants). | | **Automate dispute recovery** | Disputes flow in from connected processors; scoring, evidence, and submission are handled for you. See [How recovery works](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/reference/concepts/how-recovery-works). | | **Connect payment processors** | Link Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, Checkout.com, Braintree and more so disputes route automatically. See [Integrations](./connect/integrations). | | **Generate evidence via API** | Evidence-as-a-Service produces and returns dispute evidence programmatically, with no PSP connection required. See [Set up EaaS](./eaas/setup). | | **Embed widgets** *(beta)* | Drop pre-built, real-time dispute widgets into your own dashboard. See [Widgets](./connect/widgets). | | **Control access** | API keys, webhooks, team members, and role-based permissions. See [Developers](./connect/developers) and [Settings](./connect/settings). | Your merchants see your platform. The recovery engine runs underneath. ## When to use it [#when-to-use-it] * Your merchants concede disputes they could win, because compiling and uploading evidence takes longer than the dispute is worth to them. * Your support team fields chargeback questions your product has no answer for, and the first chargeback is the moment a merchant decides whether you are a partner or a payment rail. * You already run your own submission engine and want bank-ready evidence plus the outcome signal over an API, and nothing more. * You want to sell dispute protection as your own product, on your own pricing, without an underlying vendor visible to merchants. ## Which model fits you [#which-model-fits-you] Four delivery models, differing in who owns the brand and who takes the action. Every one runs the same engine. | You are | Start with | Why | | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | An **ISV** with your own submission flow | [EaaS](#evidence-as-a-service-eaas) | You keep the workflow; you consume evidence and outcomes over the API. | | A **platform or PSP** adding disputes to your product | [EaaS](#evidence-as-a-service-eaas) or [Co-Branded](#co-branded) | API-first if you have engineers to spend, Co-Branded if you want the shortest path to launch. | | A **merchant of record (MoR)** | [Co-Branded](#co-branded) or [White-Label](#white-label-beta) | EaaS does not fit an MoR model; the branded surfaces do. | | A platform that wants **disputes as your own product line** | [White-Label](#white-label-beta) | Your product name, your UI, your pricing, on the Public API. | Model availability is set per platform by your Chargeflow account manager. Talk to them before you build - see [Support](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/reference/support). ### Evidence-as-a-Service (EaaS) [#evidence-as-a-service-eaas] **Available today.** A chargeback lands in your platform, the engine builds the case, the merchant approves it with one click - all inside your UI, with Chargeflow invisible. You supply the dispute data, Chargeflow returns a bank-ready PDF evidence package and the structured data behind it. ISVs are the sharpest fit: many already run their own submission engine and want only the evidence and the win signal over the API. EaaS is for ISVs, platforms and PSPs - not for merchants of record. The capabilities, the entitlement, and who it's for. Account setup, the call, the webhook, the PDF. ### Co-Branded [#co-branded] **Available today.** The Chargeflow interface with your logo, your colors, and your domain. Merchants see your brand; the engine runs underneath, configured by Chargeflow rather than built by you. This is the fastest brand-safe launch: no dispute UI to build, no submission flow to own. It fits ISVs and merchants of record that want to be live this month rather than next quarter. Setup is contract-dependent and arranged with your Chargeflow account team - there is no self-serve configuration. ### White-Label (beta) [#white-label-beta] Your own product name, your own UI, and your own pricing, with Chargeflow invisible end to end. Chargeflow connects to your merchants' PSPs and data sources, enriches disputes, builds evidence, and submits it - all under your brand. This is the model platforms ask for most, and it rides on the same Public API the rest of these docs describe. What Chargeflow runs for you, and how it compares to EaaS. Platform account, keys, webhooks, merchant integrations. ### Alerts-as-a-Service (AaaS) [#alerts-as-a-service-aaas] **Soon.** Chargeflow sends Ethoca alerts on the merchant's own statement descriptors; your platform issues the refund and stops the chargeback before it is ever filed. Same shape as EaaS - Chargeflow's intelligence, your action, your brand. Enrolling a merchant for Ethoca and RDR will take a single API call at onboarding. Until AaaS ships, alert-based deflection is available to merchants directly. See [Alerts](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/merchants/alerts). ## Choose your level of autonomy [#choose-your-level-of-autonomy] The on-ramp is not a smaller product. It is the same engine, run at the level of control you pick, per merchant segment: | Mode | Who decides | Use it when | | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Auto-pilot** | Chargeflow generates and submits, no human in the loop | Volume is high and per-dispute review is not worth a person's time. | | **Co-pilot** | Chargeflow generates, your merchant approves before submission | Your merchants or your risk team require sign-off on what is sent to the bank. | Acquirers and regulated platforms usually start on co-pilot: an engine deciding everything unsupervised creates its own problems. Segment your merchant base and run both - the Public API exposes the same endpoints either way. ## What you'll need [#what-youll-need] 1. **A Chargeflow Connect account.** Your account manager invites your team. 2. **API keys.** Generate them in the Developer Hub in the Connect UI. 3. **A Chargeflow account per merchant.** See [Onboard a merchant](./eaas/onboard-a-merchant). ## Get started [#get-started] Whichever model you land on, the first thing to do is prove the engine works against a real dispute. The quickstart takes you from API key to a bank-ready evidence package. Authenticate, generate evidence, receive the webhook, fetch the PDF. Running Connect day to day, rather than integrating against it, is covered in [Run Connect](./connect): merchants, disputes, integrations, widgets, developers, and settings. The API path itself runs through [Evidence-as-a-Service](./eaas/introduction): [onboard a merchant](./eaas/onboard-a-merchant), [submit platform disputes](./eaas/submit-platform-disputes), then generate evidence. Alongside it, subscribe to the [webhook events](./webhook-events), watch the connection with [Monitor integration health](./monitor-integration-health), and find partner-facing tooling in [Partner Studio](./partner-studio). All Platforms API endpoints authenticate with your `x-api-key` header. See the [Authentication](https://docs.chargeflow.io/docs/reference/api-fundamentals/authentication) guide for how to generate keys and optionally enable HMAC signature verification.