Flexport API
REST API for freight forwarder Flexport's logistics platform, enabling programmatic shipment booking, cargo tracking, customs document management, and freight rate quoting across ocean, air, and truck modes.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
Community/specialized tool. Apply standard security practices for category. Review documentation for specific security requirements.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
Best when your organization is already a Flexport customer moving freight internationally and needs to build supply chain visibility dashboards, automated document workflows, or cost-tracking integrations against live shipment data.
Avoid When
Avoid when you need parcel-level shipping, don't have an active Flexport account, or need a self-serve sandbox to prototype without a sales engagement — the API is not accessible without a commercial relationship.
Use Cases
- • Track shipments automatically through the full freight lifecycle — booking, in-transit milestones, customs clearance, and delivery
- • Generate and retrieve customs and commercial invoice documents programmatically for compliance workflows
- • Fetch freight rate quotes for ocean and air across routes to feed procurement or cost optimization tools
Not For
- • Small parcel or last-mile shipping (use EasyPost, Shippo, or ShipStation instead)
- • Casual or consumer-grade shipping needs without an active Flexport forwarding account
- • Self-serve sandbox exploration — there is no free tier or developer sandbox without a commercial relationship
Interface
Authentication
API key authentication with keys issued per Flexport account. No OAuth2 or fine-grained scopes — a single key grants full account access, which warrants careful secret rotation and storage practices.
Pricing
Enterprise pricing negotiated directly with Flexport sales. API access requires an active freight forwarding account — there is no self-serve or developer-only plan.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ Shipment lifecycle has many state transitions (booked, cargo_received, departed, arrived, customs_hold, delivered, etc.) — agents must handle all states gracefully rather than assuming a happy path
- ⚠ Commercial invoice and packing list documents require exact field formatting per destination country customs rules — malformed documents cause customs holds
- ⚠ API access requires an active Flexport customer account that cannot be provisioned self-serve; dev/test workflows require a sandbox account provisioned through Flexport support
- ⚠ API keys have no scope granularity — a single key grants full account access, requiring strict secret management and rotation policies
- ⚠ Customs data is jurisdiction-specific; HS codes, duties, and documentation requirements vary by origin/destination pair and must not be assumed uniform
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-07.