Developers

Stamp.Show is the system of record for your expo: applications, exhibits, judging and results. If your expo also lives somewhere else, there are three ways to connect it. All of them work with an API key that belongs to one expo.

API referenceREST API v1. Register exhibits from your own registration system, follow their status, read the expo's public content and listen to webhooks. OpenAPI 3.1 spec included. WordPress pluginStamp.Show Companion. Shortcodes and blocks for the palmares, sponsors, prizes, judges, commissioners and catalog, plus an application form. No code. Node.js SDK@stamp-show/sdk on npm. A typed client for the API with webhook verification, for Node.js, Next.js and edge runtimes.

The WordPress plugin and the Node.js SDK are open source: wp-companion and node on GitHub.

Which one do I need?

Your expo's website runs on WordPress: install the plugin. It is built on the same API, so you never write a request yourself.
You have your own registration system and want to send applications and exhibits to Stamp.Show: use the API, from Node.js with the SDK or from any language with the OpenAPI description.
Your website is something else (static, another CMS) and you want to show results or the jury: read the API's content endpoints from your server and refresh them on webhooks.

Get a key

In the expo's Setup, add API to the registration methods (needed only to receive applications).
Open the expo's API keys tab and create a key. You see it once; it starts with jpk_. The webhook secret that signs our notifications is shown once too.
In the same tab, set a webhook URL and tick the events you want to hear.

Every request carries Authorization: Bearer <key>, over HTTPS, from your server: keep the key out of browsers and public repositories. The limit is 60 requests per minute per key.

Open Exhibit: the exhibit format

To send an exhibit you describe it as an Open Exhibit document: an open, application-neutral JSON format (MIT license) for a philatelic exhibit's structure. It holds the title, class, the judging rulesets it targets (FIP or APS), the synopsis, and the frames and sheets with an image for each. It is not tied to Stamp.Show, so the same document can travel between systems.

The specification and its changelog
The JSON Schema, to validate a document before you send it
Examples: traditional, postal history, youth and APS display exhibits

The API takes an Open Exhibit document in Send the exhibit; the Node.js SDK sends it for you.

What a key can and cannot do

It works for one expo, the one it was created in.
It registers applications and exhibits, and can accept or reject pending applications.
It reads only what the expo's public site would show: same public window, palmares gate and verified judges only.
It never evaluates: exhibits are judged when the organizer runs the expo's evaluation.