# Shippo (slim)

> Multi-carrier shipping API from Shippo. It quotes rates, buys labels, validates addresses, tracks parcels and creates return labels across the carriers it connects, through a REST API, official SDKs and a hosted MCP server.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shippo.md (~6,800 tokens) · this version ~1,680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shippo.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shippo
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

**C · 61.9/100 · rank #317 of 629 · #3 in Shipping & fulfilment · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Per-label and per-call prices are public, test keys are self-serve, and the OpenAPI spec, llms.txt and Markdown docs are open to a fetch. Label purchase has no idempotency key, API keys carry no scopes, and the status page logged carrier-side incidents on most days between July and October 2026.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: Shippo · category: Shipping & fulfilment · legal entity: Shippo · provenance 84/100
- Endpoint: `https://api.goshippo.com` (HTTP)
- Auth: OAuth or key · pricing: Freemium · x402: no · licence: Proprietary service under Shippo's terms of use. The SDKs and the goshippo/ai repository (skills and MCP bridge) are MIT
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- API: REST at https://api.goshippo.com, version 2018-02-08, 71 operations in the OpenAPI 3.1 spec, with further specs for addresses v2, estimates, reporting, invoices and surcharges
- Access: Self-serve. Free signup, then live and test keys from the API portal. Platform OAuth credentials come from sales
- Test mode: shippo_test_ keys create free test labels and mock tracking numbers such as SHIPPO_TRANSIT. Test and live data are separate, and test rates may differ from live
- MCP server: Hosted at https://mcp.shippo.com over streamable HTTP with per-user OAuth, four tools over 73 operations, live account only. @shippo/shippo-mcp 3.0.4 on npm is a stdio bridge to it
- Rate limits: Per minute on live keys, 500 POST, 4,000 single GET, 50 list on most endpoints. Batch 50 POST and 400 GET. Tracking 750 POST and 500 GET. Test keys about a tenth
- Carriers: Shippo says 40+ carriers for labels, among them USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL Express, on its own discounted accounts or the customer's
- Returns: Scan-based return labels for USPS, FedEx and UPS, charged only when used
- Refunds: POST /refunds with a transaction ID for an unused label, one label per request, subject to the carrier's policy
- SDKs: Official Python, TypeScript, Java, C# and PHP. npm shippo 2.18.0 (4 February 2026), PyPI shippo 3.9.0 (26 November 2024). Go is community-maintained
- Webhooks: Tracking, label and batch events. Secured by IP allowlist, a token in the URL, or HMAC set up through an account manager
- Compliance: SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS SAQ-A listed on trust.goshippo.com, reports on request
- Prices: Label, API Starter, after 30 free a month, plus postage $0.07 per transaction; Rate request not tied to a Shippo label $0.01 per call; Tracking request not tied to a Shippo label $0.02 per call; Delivery date estimate $0.03 per call; US address validation $0.02 per call; Non-US address validation $0.08 per call

- Scores: Reliability 59, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 83, Agent ergonomics 64, Security & auth 52, Payments & pricing 40, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 77, Transparency & trust 61 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Read with the hosted lines and scored on the REST API at api.goshippo.com. · Schema & documentation, OpenAPI 3.1 spec for the main API with 71 operations, and six further specs for addresses v2, estimates, reporting, invoices and surcharges… · Agent ergonomics, Scored on the REST API, with the MCP server noted. · Security & auth, Self-serve API keys, live and test kept apart, shown once, deletable in the portal, with no scopes and no documented expiry. · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 (0). · Maintenance & community, The API release notes were last updated on 1 October 2026 (30). · Transparency & trust, Closed service.
- Sources: 24, open questions: 7, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: shipping.rates, shipping.labels, shipping.tracking, shipping.address-validation, shipping.returns
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shippo.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/shippo.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shippo from a page on goshippo.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/goshippo/ai, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Build and test with a shippo_test_ key. Test and live object IDs are separate, and the hosted MCP server has no test mode
2. Send `Authorization: ShippoToken <key>`, not Bearer, and pin `Shippo-API-Version: 2018-02-08`
3. Before retrying a failed POST /transactions, list recent transactions. There is no idempotency key, and a second purchase is a second charge
4. Pass `async: false` on shipments and transactions, or poll the object until its status leaves QUEUED
5. Set `results` on list calls (under 200). Defaults vary by resource, and list calls are limited to 50 a minute on live keys

## Connect

```bash
npm install shippo
```

```bash
curl https://api.goshippo.com/shipments/ \
  -H "Authorization: ShippoToken <API_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{...}'
```

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http shippo https://mcp.shippo.com
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/shippo

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Easyship | B | 68.8 | shipping.rates, shipping.labels, shipping.tracking, shipping.address-validation, shipping.returns | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/easyship.min.md |
| Sendcloud | B | 62 | shipping.rates, shipping.labels, shipping.tracking, shipping.address-validation, shipping.returns | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendcloud.min.md |
| ShipStation API | C | 59.3 | shipping.rates, shipping.labels, shipping.tracking, shipping.address-validation, shipping.returns | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shipstation.min.md |
| EasyPost | C | 54.3 | shipping.rates, shipping.labels, shipping.tracking, shipping.address-validation, shipping.returns | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/easypost.min.md |
| TaxJar | C | 57.6 | shipping.address-validation | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/taxjar.min.md |


## Panel reviews (0, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)