Embedded Apps Developer Guide

Embedded Apps within the Merchant Dashboard offer a seamless integration experience for both Merchants and Zid Partners. These applications are integrated directly into the dashboard through an iframe, allowing merchants to access and interact with your app without leaving the Zid Merchant Dashboard.

Benefits for Partners

Seamless Integration: Embed your app within Zid Merchant Dashboard for a unified merchant experience.

Enhanced Visibility: Increase app exposure and engagement.

Simplified Access: No separate logins required, making it easier for merchants to use your app.

Customer Loyalty: A seamless experience fosters higher satisfaction and long-term use.

Authentication Flow

The embedded apps feature is designed to bypass standard logins. The flow consists of 6 mandatory steps:

Step 1 — Merchant installs the app

The merchant initiates installation from the Zid Merchant Dashboard. Zid redirects to your Redirect URL with an authorization code. Ensure you include the embedded_apps_tokens_write scope in your initial OAuth request:

Step 2 — Exchange code for tokens

Your callback endpoint receives ?code=.... Exchange it for tokens:

Save the access_token, authorization, and refresh_token in your database, associated with this merchant's store_id.

Step 3 — Register a lookup token with Zid

Generate a UUID (version 4) on your server. Do not use the authorization JWT — JWTs are too long and will fail due to URL truncation when passed to the iframe.

Store this UUID in your database alongside the merchant's tokens, and register it with Zid:

Step 4 — Configure the Application URL

In your Zid Developer Dashboard, set the Application URL to a fixed endpoint on your server that will serve the iframe content (e.g., https://your-app.com/embedded).

Step 5 — Merchant opens the embedded app

When a merchant accesses your app, Zid loads your Application URL in an iframe, appending the UUID you registered:

Step 6 — Identify the merchant and render

Your Application URL handler must:

Read the token query parameter.

Look up the UUID in your database to retrieve the merchant's store_id and stored tokens.

Render the embedded page.

Identifying the Merchant (Multi-Store)

Each store that installs your app must get its own unique UUID lookup key.

Recommended Database Schema:

Content Security Policy (CSP)

For the security of embedded applications, Zid enforces CSP. Every page served inside the iframe must include these headers:

Content-Security-Policy:
  style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' *;
  font-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' data: *;
  default-src 'self' *.zid.dev web.zid.sa dashboard.zid.sa;
  script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' *;
  frame-ancestors 'self' *.zid.dev web.zid.sa dashboard.zid.sa;
  connect-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' *

Note: Without the frame-ancestors directive, Zid's dashboard will block the iframe.

Token Management

Delete User Token

When a merchant uninstalls the application, revoke their access by deleting the authorization token from Zid's system:

Common Pitfalls & Security Recommendations

Do not use the JWT as the token parameter — JWTs will cause URL truncation. Always map a short UUID to the JWT locally.

URL encoding — Use URL-safe characters for your token. UUIDs (hex + hyphens) are safe.

Missing scope — The embedded_apps_tokens_write scope must be present in the initial OAuth redirect.

Re-installations — When a merchant reinstalls, generate a new UUID. The old UUID stored at Zid becomes stale.

Secure storage — Store access_token and authorization securely on your server — never expose them to the browser or iframe HTML.

Starter Project (Community Version)

A simple reference implementation for the authorization flow:

Zid Embedded App Starter — Authorization
A minimal Flask starter for the Zid Embedded Apps OAuth authorization flow. Implements steps 1–6 of the Embedded Apps Authentication Flow — install, token exchange, UUID registration, and iframe rendering — so you can focus on building your app logic.
Community project — open source, open for improvements. This is not an official Zid package. Contributions and forks are welcome.

Embedded Apps Developer Guide

Benefits for Partners#

Authentication Flow#

Step 1 — Merchant installs the app#

Step 2 — Exchange code for tokens#

Step 3 — Register a lookup token with Zid#

Step 4 — Configure the Application URL#

Step 5 — Merchant opens the embedded app#

Step 6 — Identify the merchant and render#

Identifying the Merchant (Multi-Store)#

Content Security Policy (CSP)#

Token Management#

Delete User Token#

Common Pitfalls & Security Recommendations#

Starter Project (Community Version)#