Developer platform

The RentalTide developer platform lets you build apps that install into a merchant's RentalTide account and run inside the product — not just alongside it. Your app gets a panel on the pages where it's useful, secure scoped access to the merchant's data, and a listing in the App Store.

There are two ways to extend RentalTide:

• Embedded apps — a web app you host that RentalTide loads in a sandboxed iframe at an embed location. This is the focus of these docs and what most apps should build.
• Headless integrations — server-to-server apps that call the API from your own backend with an OAuth token, no embedded UI. See the Server-to-server API (the /api/v1 gateway) — this is how a GPS/telematics service or an AI phone agent integrates.

How an embedded app works

1. You register an app in the partner portal and declare its scopes and embed locations.
2. A merchant installs it from the App Store and grants the requested scopes (standard OAuth consent).
3. RentalTide loads your embed URL in an iframe at each location you declared.
4. Your app uses the App Bridge SDK to read context (the account, location, current booking/customer, theme) and to call the API — every call is scope-checked by the host, so your app never handles raw credentials.

┌─────────────────────────── RentalTide (host) ───────────────────────────┐
│  Order page                                                              │
│  ┌───────────────────────────┐   ┌──────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │ Order details              │   │  Your app (iframe)               │   │
│  │ payments, line items, ...  │   │  ↕ App Bridge (postMessage)      │   │
│  │                            │   │  • context: account, order, theme│   │
│  │                            │   │  • app.api.get('/bookings/123')  │   │
│  └───────────────────────────┘   └──────────────────────────────────┘   │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Get started

1. Build your first app — fork the example, run it in the sandbox, and publish it.
2. App Bridge SDK — the @rentaltide/app-sdk API.
3. Scopes & embed locations — what you can request and where you can render.
4. Using the sandbox — preview your app inside a simulated RentalTide before you ship.

Monetization

Apps can be free, one-time, subscription, or usage-based. RentalTide handles billing and pays out your share (the platform fee is shown in the portal). You can also pay to feature your app at the top of the App Store.

Webhooks

Apps can register a webhook URL and secret to receive event notifications. Payloads are signed with HMAC-SHA256 (X-RentalTide-Signature + X-RentalTide-Timestamp); verify them before trusting a payload. The full outbound event catalog is rolling out — until then, poll the API or use the embed context's onContextChange for in-app freshness.