Quickstart: Create your first Detrack job in minutes

Authenticate with your Detrack API key and create your first delivery job with a single POST request in under five minutes.

This quickstart walks you through authenticating with the Detrack API and creating your first delivery job. By the end you’ll have a job visible in the Detrack dashboard, ready to dispatch.

Prerequisites

• A Detrack account with API access enabled.
• Your API key. Find it in the Detrack dashboard under Integrations > API Key.
• A terminal with curl, or any HTTP client (Postman, Insomnia).

Step 1: Set your API key

1. Copy your API key

   From the Detrack dashboard, go to Integrations > API Key and copy the key. Keep it secret; it grants full account access.

2. Export it as a shell variable

   export DETRACK_API_KEY="<YOUR_API_KEY>"
   

Step 2: Create a delivery job

Send a POST request to /dn/jobs. Only do_number and date are always required, but a delivery also needs an address. The example below adds a contact and an item.

cURL

curl -X POST https://app.detrack.com/api/v2/dn/jobs \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $DETRACK_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "data": {
      "type": "Delivery",
      "do_number": "DO-QUICKSTART-1",
      "date": "2026-09-15",
      "address": "1 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 018956",
      "deliver_to_collect_from": "Jane Smith",
      "phone_number": "6512345678",
      "notify_email": "[e-mail]",
      "items": [
        { "sku": "SKU-001", "description": "Sample package", "quantity": 1 }
      ]
    }
  }'

Step 3: Read the response

A successful create returns 201 Created with the full job object, including the Detrack-assigned id and detrack_number:

Response

{
  "data": {
    "id": "5b22055510c92b1a046ece04",
    "type": "Delivery",
    "do_number": "DO-QUICKSTART-1",
    "date": "2026-09-15",
    "detrack_number": "DET2000001",
    "status": "dispatched",
    "tracking_status": "Info received",
    "address": "1 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 018956",
    "deliver_to_collect_from": "Jane Smith",
    "items": [
      { "id": "5b22055510c92b1a046ece05", "sku": "SKU-001", "description": "Sample package", "quantity": 1 }
    ]
  }
}

For what status, primary_job_status, and tracking_status mean, see Status fields.

The job now appears in the Detrack dashboard for the date you provided.

Next steps

Authenticate every request

Learn how the X-API-KEY header works and how to keep your key safe.

Bulk create jobs

Push up to 100 jobs in a single request.

Track a job

Retrieve the current status and milestones for any DO number.

Plan a route

Build an optimized multi-stop route across drivers.