---
title: "Spree Admin API introduction and SDK quick start"
sidebarTitle: "Introduction"
description: "Overview of the Spree Admin REST API for managing products, orders, customers, and fulfillments, with SDK install and quick start examples."
---

import { Since } from '/snippets/since.mdx';


The Admin API is a REST API for managing Spree stores programmatically — products, orders, customers, fulfillments, payments, and more. It is intended for backend integrations, custom admin tooling, and automation.

All routes are prefixed with `/api/v3/admin`. During development the API is available under `http://localhost:3000/api/v3/admin`. For production, replace `http://localhost:3000` with your Spree application URL.

## Admin API vs Store API

| | Admin API | Store API |
|---|---|---|
| **Purpose** | Manage store data | Power storefronts |
| **Audience** | Staff users, backend integrations | Customers, storefronts |
| **Authentication** | Secret API key (`sk_…`) or admin JWT | Publishable API key (`pk_…`), customer JWT, order token |
| **Permissions** | API key scopes (API key authentication) or Admin Staff permission sets | Customer can only read/modify their own data |
| **Write operations** | Full CRUD on most resources | Limited to the current customer's cart, addresses, profile |

If you're building a storefront, use the [Store API](../store-api/introduction.md). The Admin API exposes administrative operations that should never be invoked from a browser.

## Using the SDK

We recommend using `@spree/admin-sdk` to interact with the Admin API. It provides typed clients, automatic retries, and idempotency support.

### Installation

```bash
npm install @spree/admin-sdk
# or
yarn add @spree/admin-sdk
# or
pnpm add @spree/admin-sdk
```

### Quick start

```typescript
import { createAdminClient } from '@spree/admin-sdk'

const client = createAdminClient({
  baseUrl: 'http://localhost:3000',
  secretKey: 'sk_xxx',
})

const { data: orders } = await client.orders.list({
  status_eq: 'complete',
  limit: 25,
})
```

## From the command line

Every endpoint can also be called with the [Spree CLI](../../developer/cli/admin-api.md) — a generic HTTP client (`get`/`post`/`patch`/`delete`) built into `@spree/cli`. It's the fastest way to explore the API from a terminal or drive it from scripts and AI agents, with zero-config credentials in local development:

```bash
spree api get /orders -q status_eq=complete --limit 25
```

Each endpoint page below shows the matching **Spree CLI** command alongside the SDK example. To browse the whole surface offline, use `spree api endpoints` and `spree api schema "<METHOD> <path>"`.

Before integrating, read:

- [Authentication](authentication.md) — secret API keys, scopes, and JWT tokens
- [Errors](errors.md) — error format and admin-specific codes
- [Querying](querying.md) — filtering, sorting, pagination, and `expand`
- [Spree CLI](../../developer/cli/admin-api.md) — call the Admin API from your terminal