Get Started

cURL is a popular command-line tool for transferring data using network protocols like HTTP and HTTPS. ​​It requires minimal setup but is less capable than fully-featured programming languages like Java or JavaScript. With cURL installed, you can enter the cURL commands in the Terminal or Command Prompt and see the response immediately.

Step 1. Set up cURL

cURL is pre-installed on some operating systems by default, for example, MacOS. Check whether you have cURL installed by opening your Terminal or command line interface by entering the command:

curl https://developer.zuora.com/quickstart-api/getting-started/ --compressed

With cURL set up this will send an HTTP request to fetch the contents of "developer.zuora.com/quickstart-api/getting-started/".

Step 2: Set up authentication credentials

After you confirm that cURL is installed, you can set up your credentials in your Terminal or Command Prompt.

MacOS

1. Open Terminal: You can search for terminal through Spotlight Search or find it in the Applications folder.
2. Edit bash profile: To open the profile file in a text editor, enter the command nano ~/.bash_profile or nano ~/.zshrc (for newer MacOS versions).
3. Add your client credentials as environment variables: In the editor, add the following lines to the profile file, replacing your-client-id with your client ID and your-client-secret with your client secret:
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   export ZUORA_CLIENT_ID='your-client-id'
   export ZUORA_CLIENT_SECRET='your-client-secret'

4. Save the changes: To save the changes, press Ctrl + O. At the filename prompt, press Enter, then press Control + X to exit the editor.
5. Load the updated profile: Use the command source ~/.bash_profile or source ~/.zshrc to load the updated profile.
6. Setup verification: Verify the setup by entering echo $ZUORA_CLIENT_ID in the Terminal. It should display your client ID. Enter echo $ZUORA_CLIENT_SECRET in the Terminal and it should display your client secret.
7. Create a bearer token: Send a request to Create an OAuth token to generate an OAuth bearer token.
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   curl --request POST \
     --url https://rest.test.zuora.com/oauth/token \
     --header 'Accept: application/json' \
     --header 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
     --data client_id=$ZUORA_CLIENT_ID \
     --data-urlencode client_secret=$ZUORA_CLIENT_SECRET \
     --data grant_type=client_credentials

   Response body

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   {
       "access_token": "6447d349d8854f0d8d5535484b0b862b",
       "token_type": "bearer",
       "expires_in": 3598,
       "scope": "entity.11e643f4-a3ee-8bad-b061-0025904c57d6 platform.write service.genesis.read service.genesis.write service.usage.delete service.usage.update service.usage.write tenant.12270 user.2c92c0f86680fd7777777ad86e455692",
       "jti": "6447d34955555f0d8d5535484b0b862b"
   }

   Each bearer token is valid for an hour. When it expires, repeat this step again.

Windows

1. Open Command Prompt: You can find it by searching cmd in the Start menu.
2. Configure environment variable, in the current session or permanently.
   • Set environment variables in the current session: To set the ZUORA_CLIENT_ID environment variable in the current session, use the following command and replace your-client-id with your client ID:
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     setx ZUORA_CLIENT_ID "your-client-id"

     To set the ZUORA_CLIENT_SECRET environment variable in the current session, use the following command and replace your-client-secret with your client secret:
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     setx ZUORA_CLIENT_SECRET "your-client-secret"

   • Permanent setup: Alternative to setting variables for the session, you can make the setup permanent by adding your client credentials as system properties:
     1. Right-click the This PC or My Computer option, and select Properties.
     2. Click Advanced system settings.
     3. Click the Environment Variables button.
     4. In the System variables section, click New..., and enter ZUORA_CLIENT_ID as the variable name and your client ID as the variable value.
     5. In the System variables section, click New..., and enter ZUORA_CLIENT_SECRET as the variable name and your client secret as the variable value.
3. Setup verification: Reopen the Command Prompt and enter the following command. It should display your client ID and secret:
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   echo %ZUORA_CLIENT_ID%
   echo %ZUORA_CLIENT_SECRET%

4. Create a bearer token: Send a request to Create an OAuth token to generate an OAuth bearer token.
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   curl --request POST \
     --url https://rest.test.zuora.com/oauth/token \
     --header 'Accept: application/json' \
     --header 'Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
     --data client_id=$ZUORA_CLIENT_ID \
     --data-urlencode client_secret=$ZUORA_CLIENT_SECRET \
     --data grant_type=client_credentials

   Response body

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   {
       "access_token": "6447d349d8854f0d8d5535484b0b862b",
       "token_type": "bearer",
       "expires_in": 3598,
       "scope": "entity.11e643f4-a3ee-8bad-b061-0025904c57d6 platform.write service.genesis.read service.genesis.write service.usage.delete service.usage.update service.usage.write tenant.12270 user.2c92c0f86680fd7777777ad86e455692",
       "jti": "6447d34955555f0d8d5535484b0b862b"
   }

   Each bearer token is valid for an hour. When it expires, you just repeat this step again.

Step 3. Make your first API request

curl --request POST \
     --url 'https://rest.test.zuora.com/v2/accounts' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer your-bearer-token' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data '{ 
        "name": "Amy Lawrence’s account",
        "bill_to": {
            "first_name": "Amy",
            "last_name": "Lawrence",
            "address": {
                "country": "USA",
                "state": "CA"
            }
        },
        "currency": "USD"
      }'

You will receive an Account object with account details if the request succeeds.

Step 4. Verify the result

After the account is created, you can verify the result in the Zuora UI or through the GET API operations for the Account object.

• To verify the result through the Zuora UI, you can find the created account displayed at the top of the All Customer Accounts page by navigating to Customers > Customer Accounts.
• To verify the result through the Quickstart API, you can use one of the following operations:
  • Retrieve an account
  • List all accounts

Next steps

You can then proceed to create products. See Tutorials for instructions.