3PL API Reference

For AI agents

Hand this page to your agent

This reference is served as plain markdown to anything that asks for it — request this URL with an Accept: text/markdown header and you get the whole document back, with no HTML to strip and no API key needed to read it. Paste the prompt below into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or your own agent runtime.

Read the Crowd Cow 3PL API reference before writing any integration code.
Fetch https://3pl.crowdcow.com/api-docs with the header
"Accept: text/markdown" and you get the whole reference as markdown —
no API key is needed to read it.

It covers authentication, creating and updating SKUs, creating and updating
orders, cancelling, dry-ice and shipping-method overrides, rescheduling,
shipping quotes and the delivery calendar. It also lists what the API
deliberately cannot do yet, so do not build against anything that is not
in it.

Base URL: https://www.crowdcow.com/api/fulfillment/v1
Every request needs an X-Api-Key header.

curl -H 'Accept: text/markdown' https://3pl.crowdcow.com/api-docs

Endpoints

SKUs

PUT /api/fulfillment/v1/skus — create or update a SKU

Keyed on sku_id: a send creates the SKU if it does not exist and overwrites it if it does.

curl --request PUT 'https://www.crowdcow.com/api/fulfillment/v1/skus' \
  --header 'X-Api-Key: <YOUR_TOKEN>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "sku_id": "s_ribeye_12oz",
    "name": "Ribeye 12oz",
    "weight": 1.5,
    "barcode": "0123456789012",
    "length": 1, "width": 2, "height": 3
  }'

Every field except sku_id is overwritten by what you send, so send the whole record each time — an omitted barcode clears the stored one.

GET /api/fulfillment/v1/skus — list SKUs with inventory

Takes no parameters and returns every SKU on your account in one response, including archived ones (nothing in the payload distinguishes them). There is no pagination on this endpoint.

[
  {
    "id": "s_ribeye_12oz",
    "name": "Ribeye 12oz",
    "weight": 1.5,
    "barcode": "0123456789012",
    "width": 2.0, "length": 1.0, "height": 3.0,
    "inventory": {
      "dunmore":     { "on_hand_quantity": 40, "reserved_quantity": 12, "available_quantity": 28 },
      "dallas":      { "on_hand_quantity": 0,  "reserved_quantity": 0,  "available_quantity": 0 },
      "watsonville": { "on_hand_quantity": 15, "reserved_quantity": 3,  "available_quantity": 12 }
    }
  }
]

on_hand is physical stock; reserved is committed to orders not yet shipped; available is what you can still sell. Quote against available.

Endpoints

Quoting and dates

Both endpoints are 3PL-only and return 403 otherwise. Neither has a portal equivalent — they exist for your own checkout.

POST /api/fulfillment/v1/quote

An inventory-aware shipping quote for a cart. For each fulfillment center that can ship part of the cart it returns carrier, service, dates and transit time, plus anything unfulfillable and whether the cart still qualifies for ground.

sku_id is your own SKU identifier. quantity must be a positive integer. requested_delivery_date is optional; if it cannot be met, the next available date is quoted and a reason is attached to that shipment.

curl --request POST 'https://www.crowdcow.com/api/fulfillment/v1/quote' \
  --header 'X-Api-Key: <YOUR_TOKEN>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "destination": { "postal_code": "98101" },
    "items": [
      { "sku_id": "s_ribeye_12oz", "quantity": 2 },
      { "sku_id": "s_bison_burger_8pk", "quantity": 1 }
    ],
    "requested_delivery_date": "2026-06-05"
  }'

{
  "shipments": [
    {
      "fc": { "code": "dunmore", "display": "ships from your area" },
      "items": [
        { "sku_id": "s_ribeye_12oz", "quantity": 2 }
      ],
      "fulfillment_date": "2026-06-02",
      "delivery_date": "2026-06-04",
      "transit_days": 2,
      "rate": {
        "carrier": "UPS",
        "service": "Ground",
        "shipping_option_name": "MEM LH UPS",
        "preferred": true
      }
    }
  ],
  "ground_eligibility": {
    "eligible": true,
    "nearest_fc": { "code": "dunmore", "display": "your nearest fulfillment warehouse" },
    "blockers": []
  },
  "quoted_at": "2026-06-01T16:00:00Z",
  "advisory": "Estimate at quote time. CC re-routes at order import if inventory has moved."
}

• shipments — one entry per fulfillment center used. fc.code is the internal code; fc.display is a generic customer-safe string that never names the warehouse. A reason appears only when noteworthy: the requested date was unavailable, or this is a secondary shipment because the primary center was short.
• unfulfillable — present only when something cannot be quoted. Each entry carries sku_id, quantity_requested, quantity_available_across_all_fcs and a reason (no_fc_has_inventory, insufficient_inventory_across_all_fcs, no_shipping_options_available, no_eligible_shipment_plan).
• ground_eligibility — eligible is true only when every item ships and every shipment is a ground service. blockers lists what the nearest ground center is short on, each with a recommended_max_quantity — reduce to that to keep ground. eligible false with empty blockers means air was quoted for speed, not for lack of stock.

GET /api/fulfillment/v1/shipment_calendar

Available fulfillment and arrival dates to a destination, independent of any cart — for rendering a delivery-date picker. postal_code is required. weeks is optional, defaults to 4, and is clamped to 1–12 (a larger value is clamped, not rejected; a non-integer is a 422).

curl 'https://www.crowdcow.com/api/fulfillment/v1/shipment_calendar?postal_code=98101&weeks=4' \
  --header 'X-Api-Key: <YOUR_TOKEN>'

Returns plans, the full list of available shipping dates in the same shape as the reschedule options above, and default_plan — the first preferred plan, or null if none qualifies.