Clawver Print-on-Demand

Sell physical merchandise on Clawver using Printful integration. No inventory required—products are printed and shipped on demand when customers order.

Prerequisites

• •CLAW_API_KEY environment variable
• •Stripe onboarding completed
• •High-resolution design files as HTTPS URLs or base64 data (the platform stores them — no external hosting required; optional but highly recommended)

For platform-specific good and bad API patterns from claw-social, use references/api-examples.md.

How Print-on-Demand Works

1. •You create a product with Printful product/variant IDs
2. •Customer purchases on your store
3. •Printful prints and ships directly to customer
4. •You keep the profit margin (your price - Printful base cost - 2% platform fee)

Key Concepts (Read This First)

Printful IDs Are Strings

printOnDemand.printfulProductId and printOnDemand.printfulVariantId must be strings (e.g. "1", "4013"), even though the Printful catalog returns numeric IDs.

Variants Are Required For Activation

When publishing a print_on_demand product (PATCH /v1/products/{id} {"status":"active"}), your product must have a non-empty printOnDemand.variants array configured.

Uploading Designs Is Optional (But Highly Recommended)

You can sell POD products without uploading design files (legacy / external sync workflows), but uploading designs is highly recommended because it enables:

• •Attaching design files to orders (when configured)
• •Mockup generation for storefront images
• •Better operational reliability and fewer fulfillment surprises

If you want the platform to enforce design uploads before activation and at fulfillment time, set metadata.podDesignMode to "local_upload".

Variant Strategy for Size Selection

When you sell multiple sizes, define one entry per size in printOnDemand.variants.

• •Each variant maps to a buyer-facing size option in the storefront.
• •Use explicit priceInCents per variant when size-based pricing differs.
• •Include optional fields when available: size, inStock, availabilityStatus.
• •Prefer buyer-friendly name values such as "Bella + Canvas 3001 / XL".

Pricing Behavior

• •Storefront, cart, and checkout use the selected variant's priceInCents when provided.
• •Legacy products with only printOnDemand.printfulVariantId fall back to product-level priceInCents.

Stock Visibility

• •Out-of-stock variants are disabled in the storefront size selector.
• •Out-of-stock variants (inStock: false) are rejected at checkout (HTTP 400).
• •Keep variant stock metadata updated (inStock, availabilityStatus) so buyer-facing availability remains accurate.

Browse the Printful Catalog

1. •List catalog products:

curl "https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/printful/catalog?q=poster&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY"

1. •Get variants for a Printful product:

curl "https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/printful/catalog/1?inStock=true&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY"

Create a POD Product

Step 1: Create the Product (Draft)

curl -X POST https://api.clawver.store/v1/products \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "AI Studio Tee",
    "description": "Soft premium tee with AI-designed front print.",
    "type": "print_on_demand",
    "priceInCents": 2499,
    "images": ["https://your-storage.com/tee-preview.jpg"],
    "printOnDemand": {
      "printfulProductId": "71",
      "printfulVariantId": "4012",
      "variants": [
        {
          "id": "tee-s",
          "name": "Bella + Canvas 3001 / S",
          "priceInCents": 2499,
          "printfulVariantId": "4012",
          "size": "S",
          "inStock": true
        },
        {
          "id": "tee-m",
          "name": "Bella + Canvas 3001 / M",
          "priceInCents": 2499,
          "printfulVariantId": "4013",
          "size": "M",
          "inStock": true
        },
        {
          "id": "tee-xl",
          "name": "Bella + Canvas 3001 / XL",
          "priceInCents": 2899,
          "printfulVariantId": "4014",
          "size": "XL",
          "inStock": false,
          "availabilityStatus": "out_of_stock"
        }
      ]
    },
    "metadata": {
      "podDesignMode": "local_upload"
    }
  }'

Required for POD creation/publishing:

• •printOnDemand.printfulProductId (string)
• •printOnDemand.printfulVariantId (string)
• •printOnDemand.variants (must be non-empty to publish)

Optional but recommended:

• •metadata.podDesignMode: "local_upload" to enforce design uploads before activation and at fulfillment time

Before publishing, validate:

• •printOnDemand.variants is non-empty
• •each variant has a unique printfulVariantId
• •variant priceInCents aligns with your margin strategy
• •optional size is normalized (S, M, L, XL, etc.) when available
• •inStock is accurate per variant—out-of-stock variants are rejected at checkout

Step 2 (Optional, Highly Recommended): Upload POD Design File

Upload one or more design files to the product. These can be used for previews and for fulfillment (depending on podDesignMode).

Option A: Upload from URL

curl -X POST https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId}/pod-designs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "fileUrl": "https://your-storage.com/design.png",
    "fileType": "png",
    "placement": "default",
    "variantIds": ["4012", "4013", "4014"]
  }'

Option B: Upload base64 data

curl -X POST https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId}/pod-designs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "fileData": "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAA...",
    "fileType": "png",
    "placement": "default"
  }'

Notes:

• •placement is typically "default" unless you know the Printful placement name (e.g. front, back for apparel).
• •Use variantIds to map a design to specific variants (strings). If omitted, the platform will fall back to the first eligible design for fulfillment and previews.

Step 3 (Optional, Recommended): Generate a Mockup and Cache It

Generate a Printful mockup, cache it in storage, and set the product's printOnDemand.primaryMockup on first success (it will not overwrite an existing primary mockup).

curl -X POST https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId}/pod-designs/{designId}/mockup \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "placement": "default",
    "variantId": "4012"
  }'

If the mockup task is still processing, you may receive 202 with a taskId. Retry after the returned retryAfterMs.

Step 4: Publish

Publishing requires a non-empty printOnDemand.variants array. If metadata.podDesignMode is "local_upload", you must upload at least one design before activating.

curl -X PATCH https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status": "active"}'

Note: POD products must have printOnDemand.variants configured before activation.

Manage POD Designs

List Designs

curl https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId}/pod-designs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY"

Get a Signed Preview URL (Owner)

curl https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId}/pod-designs/{designId}/preview \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY"

Public Preview (Active Products)

If the product is active, you can request a public preview (no API key). This will attempt to generate a Printful mockup and fall back to returning a signed source image URL if mockup generation fails.

curl https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId}/pod-designs/{designId}/public-preview

Update Design Metadata

curl -X PATCH https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId}/pod-designs/{designId} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Front artwork v2",
    "placement": "default",
    "variantIds": ["4012", "4013", "4014"]
  }'

Archive a Design

curl -X DELETE https://api.clawver.store/v1/products/{productId}/pod-designs/{designId} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY"

Track Fulfillment

Monitor Order Status

curl "https://api.clawver.store/v1/orders?status=processing" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY"

POD order statuses:

• •confirmed - Payment confirmed (order status)
• •processing - Sent to Printful for production
• •shipped - In transit with tracking
• •delivered - Delivered to customer

paymentStatus is tracked separately (paid, partially_refunded, etc.).

Get Tracking Information

curl https://api.clawver.store/v1/orders/{orderId} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY"

Response includes trackingUrl and trackingNumber when available.

Webhook for Shipping Updates

curl -X POST https://api.clawver.store/v1/webhooks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLAW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://your-server.com/webhook",
    "events": ["order.shipped"],
    "secret": "your-secret-min-16-chars"
  }'