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Apps and scopes

PayPal Apps are registered applications within the PayPal Developer ecosystem that authenticate and authorize your software to interact with PayPal's services. Each app receives unique credentials (client ID and client secret) that establish a secure connection between your application and PayPal's payment processing network.

PayPal Apps operate on a modern REST API architecture and follow a structured development process:

  • App Registration
  • Sandbox Testing
  • API Integration

PayPal's sandbox environment provides developers with testing accounts to simulate real payment scenarios without processing actual transactions. PayPal sandbox provides testing environments with two main account types:

Understanding scopes​

Scopes define your application's permissions and access levels to PayPal services. The scope field in the authentication response shows all available permissions for your application.

Common PayPal API scopes​

Payment processing​

  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/payment/authcapture - Process payments and captures
  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/payment - Real-time payment processing
  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/refund - Process refunds
  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments - General payments API access

Vault services​

  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/vault/payment-tokens/creditcard - Store credit card information
  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/vault/payment-tokens/read - Manage stored credit cards

Business services​

  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/invoicing - Create and manage invoices
  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/subscriptions - Subscription management
  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/payments/payouts - Send payouts

Dispute management​

  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/read-buyer - Read buyer dispute information
  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/read-seller - Read seller dispute information
  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/disputes/update-seller - Update seller dispute status

System integration​

  • https://uri.paypal.com/services/webhooks - Webhook management
  • openid - OpenID Connect authentication

PayPal API credentials​

PayPal REST APIs use two types of credentials for authentication:

Client ID: A public identifier for your PayPal app. Safe to use in client-side code and sufficient for basic payment buttons and card fields.

Client Secret: A private key that authenticates your app for API calls. Must be kept secure and used only server-side.

Getting credentials​

Obtain credentials through the PayPal Developer Dashboard:

  • New accounts get a "Default Application" with ready-to-use credentials

  • Create additional apps through "Create App" in Apps & Credentials

  • Copy the client ID and client secret for your integration

For detailed implementation guides, refer to each service area's specific PayPal API documentation.