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Connecting ShipStation to CloudFFL

Before you can ship anything through ShipStation, you need to connect your ShipStation account to CloudFFL. This is a one-time setup that takes about five minutes.

What You Will Need

  • Your ShipStation account login (to get your API key)
  • Administrator access in CloudFFL
Important: The CloudFFL integration uses the ShipStation v2 API. You must generate an API key from the v2 API settings — not the legacy v1 API key. The v1 key will not work.

Step 1: Get Your v2 API Key from ShipStation

  1. Log into your ShipStation account at shipstation.com.
  2. Click your account name in the top-right corner.
  3. Go to Account Settings and then API Settings.
  4. Look for the v2 API Keys section. If you only see an "API Key" and "API Secret" pair, that is the legacy v1 API — you need the v2 key instead.
  5. Click Generate API Key under the v2 section if you do not already have one.
  6. Copy your API Key. This is a long string of letters and numbers — treat it like a password.
Tip: ShipStation's v2 API uses a single API key (sometimes called a "Bearer token") rather than the old v1 format which used a key and secret pair. If you are asked for both a key and a secret, you are looking at the wrong section.

Step 2: Create a ShipStation Connection in CloudFFL

  1. In CloudFFL, open the ShipStation app from your home screen.
  2. Go to Configuration > Instances.
  3. Click Create.
  4. Give it a name — something like "ShipStation Production" works fine.
  5. In the API Configuration tab, paste your v2 API Key into the API Key field.
  6. Leave the API URL as the default (https://api.shipstation.com) unless you were told otherwise.
  7. Click Save.

Step 3: Test the Connection

  1. Click the green Test Connection button at the top of the page.
  2. If everything is set up correctly, you will see a success message showing how many carriers were found.
  3. If you see an error, double-check that you copied the full API key and that it is a v2 key (not the legacy v1 key/secret pair).

Step 4: Sync Your Carriers and Warehouses

  1. Click the green Sync All button at the top of the page.
  2. CloudFFL will pull in all your shipping carriers (UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc.) along with their available services and package types.
  3. It will also pull in all your warehouse locations from ShipStation.
  4. You will see a success message when the sync is complete.

After syncing, you can click the Carriers or Warehouses buttons on the right side of the page to see what was imported.

Step 5: Register Webhooks

Webhooks let ShipStation notify CloudFFL instantly when something happens — like when a package ships. This is especially important if you use the Export shipping workflow, because webhooks are how tracking numbers and shipping updates get back into CloudFFL automatically.

  1. Click the Register Webhooks button in the header of your instance page.
  2. CloudFFL automatically creates a secure connection to ShipStation — no manual configuration needed.
  3. You will see a confirmation showing how many webhooks were registered.

That is it. CloudFFL handles all the technical details — generating a security key, telling ShipStation where to send updates, and verifying that incoming messages are legitimate.

Tip: If you use the Export shipping workflow, webhooks are required. Without them, CloudFFL will not know when your warehouse team ships a package from ShipStation. See the Setting Up Webhooks for Order Export page for the full details.

Step 6: Set It as Your Default

  1. Go to Settings > Inventory
  2. Scroll down to the ShipStation section.
  3. Select your new instance in the Default Instance dropdown.
  4. Click Save.

Your ShipStation connection is now ready to use.

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