API-first, headless loyalty platform: what it is and what to ask for
Resources · Concept
An API-first, headless loyalty platform exposes all of the program logic (members, points, tiers, promotions, coupons and redemption) through an API, so each channel runs its own frontend: app, ecommerce, POS or kiosk. Qurable is API-first and headless, with SDKs for iOS, Android and React Native, and it also offers a white-label portal and app for teams without a frontend.
- AppOwn checkout
- POSStore counter
- KioskSelf-service
CamilaFan member · 2,480 ptsThe channels- APIOne engine
- SDKiOS, Android, React Native
- WebhookEvent sent
- < 50 msMember identified
- ~150 msPromotion decided
- < 1 sPurchase recorded
Banks and fintechs, in production
Our banking and fintech clients already deliver cashback at payment with Qurable.
Pomelo, Santander Peru, Banisi and Konfío, among others. With Pomelo, banks, fintechs and companies that issue cards turn on loyalty and cashback without a separate technical project.
- ~150 msReward decisionInside the authorization
- < 50 msMember identificationp95, server-side
- 99.5%SLACommitted availability
- 18MMembersIn programs running on Qurable
Key takeaways
- API-first means all of the program logic lives in the API before any screen; headless means each channel runs its own frontend.
- Ask the API for full coverage, per-client credentials, signed webhooks, idempotency and SDKs for your apps.
- Headless and white-label are not mutually exclusive: what helps is being able to use both, channel by channel.
The difference
Headless or tied to a screen.
Many loyalty platforms have an API, but the logic lives in their portal: some things can only be done from their screen. On an API-first platform, everything the program does can be done through the API.
| Loyalty tied to its frontend | API-first and headless, with Qurable | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the logic lives | In the vendor portal; the API covers part of it | In the API: members, points, tiers, promotions, coupons and redemption |
| Channels | One default frontend and adaptations for the rest | App, ecommerce, POS and kiosk, each with its own frontend, on the same engine |
| Promotions | Configured in one system and applied in another | The same engine decides the promotion in ~150 ms and applies it in the channel |
| Events | Daily files or periodic polling | Every event goes out by signed webhook, as it happens |
| Apps | A generic app or a build from scratch | SDKs for iOS, Android and React Native, or a white-label app |
| AI agents | No access, or custom integrations | MCP server with the same permissions as the API |
| Deployment | Only in the vendor cloud | In our cloud, shared or dedicated, or in yours, on any cloud and region |
The pieces
What an API-first platform includes.
Four pieces to review in a demo, with the documentation open.
All the logic through the API
Enrollment, earning, redemption, tiers, promotions and coupons, with no steps that only exist in a portal.
Access with credentials
The API is public and accessed with credentials each client authorizes, to protect the program and its data.
Idempotency
A retry with the same key never creates a second transaction.
A webhook for every event
Points earned and spent, tier changes, coupons redeemed and missions completed.
Signed
Every event carries a signature so the receiving system can verify its origin.
Export to your destination
Members, transactions, tiers and coupons, in a daily export.
SDKs for your apps
iOS, Android and React Native, to add the program to the app you already have.
White-label when you need it
A ready member portal and native app, with your brand.
Any channel
App, ecommerce, POS and self-service kiosk on the same engine.
POS, processors and checkouts
Connected to POS systems such as Napse and Oracle, to payment processors and to checkouts.
CRM and marketing
Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics and tools such as Braze or Klaviyo, through webhooks and the API.
AI agents through MCP
An MCP server to query and operate the program, with permissions and human approval.
What to ask the API
The questions for your tech team.
An API is evaluated with the documentation open and a real test, not with an architecture diagram.
| What to ask | What answer to look for |
|---|---|
| Can everything be done through the API? | Enrollment, earning, redemption, tiers, promotions and coupons, with no portal-only steps. |
| Complex promotions through the API? | Stackable, buy X get Y, bundles, tiered discounts, basket rules and payment-method conditions (bank or card), evaluated at the moment of purchase. |
| How is it accessed? | API documentation and credentials per client and per environment, with role-based permissions. |
| How long does each operation take? | Identification, decision and recording, at p95 and measured in production. |
| What happens if it fails? | The sale is never blocked: earning is queued and recorded when the service is back. |
| Which events does it emit? | The list of events, whether they are signed and whether they are retried when the destination fails. |
| Are there SDKs? | For the platforms your apps use, including cross-platform ones such as React Native. |
| What if I have no frontend? | A white-label portal and app on the same engine, to launch fast. |
When it fits
Headless, white-label or both.
It is not all or nothing: many programs combine both, channel by channel.
Headless
If you already have your own app, ecommerce and POS and want the program inside each one.
White-label
If you need to launch fast without building the member frontend.
Both
Your app with the SDK and a white-label portal for another channel, on the same engine.
In 1 to 3 months
In stages, starting with the channel that sells the most.
With Qurable
API-first in production, in real programs.
The same API powers programs with app, ecommerce, POS and kiosk across several Latin American countries.
MostaClub: app, POS and kiosk
Mostaza applies stackable promotions, buy X get Y, bundles and tiered discounts in real time in its app checkout, at the counter and at the self-service kiosk.
Read the MostaClub caseClub TaDa: an API-based architecture
AB InBev’s ecommerce in Argentina launches rules, coupons and promotions without writing new code.
Read the Club TaDa caseShell Box: payment-method conditions
Real-time promotions that evaluate the bank and the card each customer pays with, within the same purchase.
Loyalty for fuel stationsPomelo and Credit Union Travel
They offer loyalty to their customers powered by Qurable, run from their own consoles.
Loyalty at POS and checkout
Questions
What teams ask about API-first loyalty.
Short answers for technology, product and loyalty teams.
It is a loyalty platform that exposes all of the program logic through an API before any screen: members, points, tiers, promotions, coupons and redemption. Any channel or system can run the program without depending on the vendor portal.
That the program engine is separate from the frontend: the app, ecommerce, POS or kiosk use their own interface and connect to the same engine through the API. Members see the brand experience, not the vendor’s.
Yes. Qurable’s API is public and accessed with credentials each client authorizes; every program event goes out by signed webhook, and there are SDKs for iOS, Android and React Native. Mostaza uses it in its app, POS and kiosk; Shell Box, for promotions with bank and card conditions; and Pomelo and Credit Union Travel, from their own consoles.
Yes: the API is public and access is granted with authorized credentials, per client and per environment, to protect the program and its data. The documentation is at docs.qurable.co.
It depends on the channel. Headless fits if you already have your own app, ecommerce and POS; white-label, if you need to launch fast without building the frontend. With Qurable you can combine them: the SDK in your app and a white-label portal for another channel, on the same engine.
Yes. It integrates through the API with the rest of the stack (ecommerce, POS, CRM, CDP and data warehouse) and emits every event by webhook. It does not replace your CRM or your ecommerce: it connects to them.
Yes, through Qurable’s MCP server, with the same permissions and rules as the API. Anything that affects members is not activated without human approval.
Last reviewed
Go deeper
Keep reading about the architecture.
The pages where the API shows up in the product.
- ModulePromotion engine
Complex promotions decided at payment, in real time.
- ConceptReal-time loyalty
Which latencies matter and how to spot batch processing in disguise.
- ConceptLoyalty management system (LMS)
What an LMS includes and what to require.
- ModuleCustomer Data Platform
The member profile the API and the AI read.
- ComparisonQurable vs Open Loyalty
Two API-first platforms, side by side.
Test the API with your tech team.
In a 45-minute technical session we walk through the API, a purchase end to end and the webhooks, with a case like yours.