Network
The OpenPartner Network is an optional layer on top of the core product. It connects merchants with vetted creators across the network through a marketplace.
How it works
- Merchants opt in from the admin UI. Existing programs continue working unchanged.
- Creators apply to listed programs, the merchant approves, a partner is provisioned in their instance through the federation API.
- When the creator drives revenue, attribution and payouts run through the merchant’s normal pipeline.
- Self-hosted merchants on the Network access plan pay 3% of payouts to partners the Network provisioned (a creator the merchant discovered through the marketplace). The merchant’s instance sums those payouts and reports the total to the Network, which meters it in Stripe. Hosted plans include the Network, so nothing is metered for them. Self-recruited partners are never charged.
Federation contract
The Network coordinator talks to merchant instances over a documented HTTP contract using scoped API keys:
| Scope | What it allows |
|---|---|
partners:write | Provision a new partner, set name + email. |
links:write | Issue partner-attributed links. |
commissions:read | Read commissions for Network partners, to show creators their earnings in the Network. |
The contract is documented; the same scopes work for any third-party integration. Self-host customers can run their own marketplace if they prefer — the Network is one implementation of the contract, not the only one.
Why optional
The whole reason OpenPartner exists is “your data stays yours.” Forcing every customer through a centralized marketplace would contradict that. The Network is monetization for customers who want creator-side liquidity; everyone else uses the same code with zero coupling to it.