Using the API and SDK

Once your domain is verified (see Pricing and connecting your domain), your site needs one credential and a small amount of markup to start selling article access.

Get an API key

Generate one from your publication's API keys settings. It's server-side only — LinketySplit's API sends no CORS headers, so a key used from browser JavaScript is stopped by the browser before it goes anywhere. Keep it in an environment variable, not in code your site ships to visitors.

Install the SDK

npm install @linketysplit/sdk

import { LinketySplit } from '@linketysplit/sdk';

const ls = new LinketySplit({ apiKey: process.env.LS_API_KEY });
const publication = await ls.getPublication();

getPublication() is a good first call to make once you've pasted a key in — if it resolves, your key and your integration are talking to LinketySplit correctly.

Mark up your articles

Each locked article's page should carry a few linketysplit-* meta tags describing it — title, excerpt, image, and, if this article should charge something other than your publication's default price, its own pricing. The SDK renders these for you:

import { createArticleMetaTags } from '@linketysplit/sdk';

const tags = createArticleMetaTags({
  title: article.title,
  excerpt: article.excerpt,
  pricing: { price: 199 } // omit to use your publication's default price
});

Drop the returned string into that page's <head>. Nothing needs to call LinketySplit to do this — it's just markup your own template emits.

Point readers at a purchase page

The simplest way to sell an article is a plain link built from its own URL — no API call, no credential needed by the visitor:

const url = ls.purchaseLinkUrl('https://yoursite.com/your-article');

That link charges whatever the article's own meta tags say (or your publication's default, if it doesn't set one). If you need a price pinned to a specific campaign — a newsletter send, an ad — instead of following the article's live price, create a dedicated link:

const link = await ls.createPurchaseLink({
  articleUrl: 'https://yoursite.com/your-article',
  pricing: { price: 199 },
  name: 'March newsletter'
});
link.url; // https://linketysplit.com/p/…

A created purchase link's price is fixed at creation — there's no way to edit it afterward, since an offer already sent to a reader shouldn't change under them. If you need a different price, create a new link.