Documentation · Integration Guide

AutoScout24 API Setup

This document explains how AutoScout24 API access fits into the ADP Car Market Hub plugin, which credentials the plugin needs, and how an administrator can validate that the dealer account is reachable from the WordPress site.

The focus here is the integration side of the work — the relationship between the plugin, the dealer's AutoScout24 account and the people who provision API access. For the field-by-field walkthrough of the Settings page, see API Credentials Setup.

When to use this document

Use this document if you are:

Planning a new integration of the plugin against a dealer's AutoScout24 API access.
Verifying that a dealer actually has the kind of API access the plugin requires before you start the WordPress configuration.
Coordinating with an integration partner or with the dealer's IT contact to obtain or rotate API access values.
Validating after configuration that the WordPress site can reach the AutoScout24 API.

The audience is a WordPress administrator or integrator working together with whoever manages the dealer's AutoScout24 API access. AD Promotion does not issue AutoScout24 API access; the credentials always come from the dealer's own account or from the partner that provisions access on the dealer's behalf.

Overview

ADP Car Market Hub is built around the official AutoScout24 API. The plugin authenticates with an OAuth2 client credentials flow against an API host that the administrator configures, requests an access token, and then calls the listings endpoints to import vehicles into the as24ci_car custom post type.

In practice the integration involves three independent parties:

The dealer. Owns the AutoScout24 account and the dealer's listing data.
The API provider. AutoScout24, or an integration partner that exposes AutoScout24 data through an equivalent gateway. This party issues the API Base URL, the Seller ID(s), and the OAuth Client ID / Client Secret.
The WordPress site. Holds the plugin configuration, stores the credentials in the WordPress options table and performs the periodic imports.

The plugin uses exactly the API host and credentials you configure — there is no hard-coded AutoScout24 host inside the plugin. This makes it possible to point the same plugin installation at different environments (for example a sandbox for testing and the production API for the live site) by changing the configuration.

Prerequisites

Before configuring the plugin's API connection, confirm all of the following:

The dealer has API access to AutoScout24 (or to an equivalent integration gateway) for the Seller ID(s) that should be imported. The standard AutoScout24 dealer website login is not an API credential and cannot be used by the plugin.
You have received, through a secure channel, the values that the plugin needs:
API Base URL – the full HTTPS URL of the AutoScout24 environment or partner gateway.
Seller ID (one or more) – the stable account identifier(s) issued by the API provider. The Seller ID is not the dealer's display name on the AutoScout24 website.
Client ID – the OAuth client identifier.
Client Secret – the OAuth client secret that pairs with the Client ID.
The WordPress site meets the hosting, PHP / database and API, network and SSL requirements. Outbound HTTPS to the API host must be allowed.
An administrator account is available on the WordPress site.

If any of these values are unknown, do not invent them. Contact the party that provisioned the dealer's API access and request them through a secure channel.

Step by step instructions

The detailed walkthrough of the Settings UI is in API Credentials Setup. The high-level integration flow is:

Confirm API access with the provider. Verify that the dealer's API access is active, that the Client ID / Client Secret pair is valid, and that the credentials are authorised for every Seller ID that should be imported. Multi-seller dealerships typically need explicit authorisation per Seller ID.
Receive the values securely. Use a password manager, an encrypted message, or another secure file-transfer method. Do not accept credentials by plain email or chat.
Configure the plugin. In WordPress, open Car Market Hub → Settings and enter the API Base URL, Seller ID, Client ID and Client Secret in the API Connection & General Settings card.
Run the connection test. Open Car Market Hub → Tools and run the API Connection Test as described in Connection Test. Do not start importing vehicles until the test succeeds.
Run a small import first. Use the Batch-Wizard or a single scheduled run with a low vehicle limit before enabling full automation. This validates end-to-end behaviour without importing the entire catalogue on the first attempt.
Enable scheduled imports. Once the manual import works, enable WP-Cron or set up a server cron trigger. See Server Cron Setup.

If anything fails along the way, see API Connection Errors before adjusting the configuration.

Configuration reference

The plugin exposes only the fields necessary to talk to the configured AutoScout24 environment. The labels below match the labels on Car Market Hub → Settings.

Field	Purpose	Source
API Base URL	Full HTTPS URL of the AutoScout24 environment or partner gateway. The plugin uses this URL exactly as configured.	Provided by AutoScout24 or by the integration partner.
Seller ID	One or more dealer account identifiers. Multiple Seller IDs are entered comma-separated.	Provided together with the API access. Not the dealer's display name on the AutoScout24 website.
Client ID	OAuth client identifier. Treat as confidential even though it is not technically secret.	Issued by the API provider.
Client Secret	OAuth client secret. Stored in the WordPress options table; treat as a sensitive credential.	Issued by the API provider. If lost, it normally has to be re-issued — it cannot be recovered.
Default currency	Used when an imported listing does not provide a currency value. Not a credential.	Chosen by the administrator based on the dealer's market.

The plugin derives the OAuth token endpoint and the token audience from the configured API Base URL automatically; there is no separate UI field for them. If the API provider requires non-standard values, contact AD Promotion or the integration partner before changing anything — the standard derivation is what most environments expect.

Operational notes

Storage. Credentials are stored as WordPress options. Anyone with WordPress administrator access, file-system access to the database, or access to a database backup can read them. Apply the same protections as for any other secret your organisation manages.
Token caching. The plugin requests an OAuth access token before its first API call and caches it. Subsequent imports re-use the cached token until it expires. After rotating credentials, it is good practice to clear the token cache from Car Market Hub → Tools so the next request uses the new credentials immediately.
Multi-environment installations. The plugin has no built-in production / sandbox switch. Switching environments means changing the API Base URL, Seller ID, Client ID and Client Secret to the values for the target environment and running the connection test again. Use separate credentials per WordPress environment so that staging activity cannot accidentally interfere with production data.
Multi-seller dealerships. When several Seller IDs are configured, all of them are queried with the same Client ID / Client Secret. The credentials must be authorised for every Seller ID in the list — otherwise individual sellers will fail with an authorisation error during import.
Logging. API calls and token requests are logged to the plugin's log directory in wp-content/uploads/as24ci-logs/. Logs include enough detail to diagnose problems but the Client Secret is not written in plain text. Treat the log directory as confidential.
Coordination with the API provider. The plugin can only do what the API provider allows. If the dealer's API access is suspended, throttled, or restricted to a subset of Seller IDs, the plugin will report those failures but cannot work around them. Always raise such issues with the party that provisioned the access.

Validating account access

After configuring the plugin, validate access in this order:

Connection test. Run the API Connection Test on Car Market Hub → Tools. A successful result confirms that the API Base URL is reachable, that the OAuth flow succeeds, and that the first configured Seller ID is recognised by the API. See Connection Test.
Manual import of a small batch. Use the Batch-Wizard to import a small number of vehicles. Confirm that listings appear under Car Market Hub → Cars and that prices, currency and basic attributes look correct.
Image import check. Confirm that the first image of each test vehicle was downloaded and attached. If image processing is queued, check the image queue status on Car Market Hub → Import & Limits.
System & Help tab. Review the diagnostic indicators on the System & Help tab to confirm there are no outstanding warnings about API connectivity, scheduling or storage.

Verify this validation flow in the current plugin version before publishing customer-facing instructions, since UI labels can evolve between releases.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	What to check
Connection test reports an authentication error.	Wrong Client ID / Client Secret, mismatched environment, or whitespace pasted into a credential field.	Re-enter both Client ID and Client Secret. Confirm with the API provider that the values are valid for the configured API Base URL.
Connection test reports "no Seller ID configured".	The Seller ID field was not saved or contains only whitespace / a stray comma.	Re-open Settings, re-enter the Seller ID and save again.
Connection test fails with a network or SSL error.	Outbound HTTPS to the API host is blocked, the server's CA bundle is outdated, or DNS does not resolve the host.	See API, Network and SSL Requirements and API Connection Errors.
Connection works but no vehicles are imported for a specific Seller ID.	The credentials are not authorised for that Seller ID, or the seller has no listings published.	Contact the API provider to confirm the authorisation. Verify on the dealer's AutoScout24 account that listings are active.
After rotating credentials the old credentials still seem to be used.	The cached access token has not yet expired.	Clear the token cache from Car Market Hub → Tools and re-run the connection test.
Import partly works but some vehicles fail repeatedly.	Provider-side data issues or rate limiting on the API.	Review the plugin logs in `wp-content/uploads/as24ci-logs/` and report repeatable failures to the API provider with the relevant log excerpts (with secrets redacted).