# Integration

You can integrate with Whisk using our API to build an app or a website related to shoppable recipe content. 

Here are the following advantages of using our API:

* There is no need to store recipe content in your infrastructure.
* You can provide your users with visual delight and smarter personalized experiences.
* You can let your users closely connect with the Whisk ecosystem.
* Your app or a website can have a flexible set of functionalities and look and feel.

The Whisk API lets you use some of our pre-designed functionalities based on your content like recipe search, recipe feed, meal planning, shopping list, etc. You can find the full list of APIs [here](https://docs.whisk.com/introduction#api-services).

## Supported Integration Methods

You can integrate with Whisk API on either server-side or client-side based on your requirements. 

### Server-Side Integration

![The Server-Side Integration Flow](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/txx-F3FzcfWF1TT7_AEpug12bDzbhACuz3yKGgt5HdqxVQJs1GdlzOBvX1ODO_f83WjO3vViKOPmhAy7g6R_eoLyiLLgRU6ALnYDxsrqNamc6iHy8YSUFr9OVtVHuvbHrMtatgBL)

If you want your users to have a personalized and responsive experience, we generally recommend you to have a server layer between Whisk’s Partners API and your client application. This layer allows you to have your user session mechanism with your client application. We also recommend having a cache on your server-side for non-personalized requests to avoid exceeding API limits. To have this integration done, you can use [OAuth](https://docs.whisk.com/api-overview/auth) and [Server Token](https://docs.whisk.com/auth#server-token) for API authentication.

### Client-Side Integration

![The Client-Side Integration Flow](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/CNEaGHNAYI9a2ovnPXsTmihdGYcjwLhAz2Z2q0nlHnSd03fJhAoH9aGbL5TCnqryP6O1dksVSDr1FkCeVZzxT1KiCACmTQ0LRhvhvXZXcclIOuZkdy8sjgjOc2ZZYMB5RVRPpZ-P)

The client-side integration lets you directly integrate your client application with Whisk but have limited access. For this integration type, you can use the [Client Token](https://docs.whisk.com/auth#client-token) for API authentication to call read-only API endpoints like [Get Recipe](https://docs.whisk.com/api-overview/broken-reference) or [Recipe Search](https://docs.whisk.com/api/recipes/recipe-search). While you choose this integration type, you should know that you can exceed the API limits with excessive usage, and it may result in your client application getting stopped.  

## Integration Process

To get started with Whisk’s Partners API integration is simple.\
\
1\. Get a Sandbox API key. For more information, see [Obtain an API key](https://docs.whisk.com/api-overview/broken-reference).

2\. Choose an integration approach that suits your requirements. See [Integration Methods](#supported-integration-methods) for more information.

3\. Try and test our [API](https://docs.whisk.com/). 

{% hint style="info" %}
Whisk has its OpenAPI Specs published on Swagger to let you try out the API calls directly in your browser. You can call our API [here](https://api.whisk.com/spec/).
{% endhint %}

4\. When you are ready to integrate, request production API access and start building your app or a website. For more information, see [Obtain an API key](https://docs.whisk.com/api-overview/broken-reference).

## Partners API Integration Sample

Whisk Playground is a live demo application that you can refer to see how integration with Whisk looks.

> **URL**: <https://showcase.whisk.com/>

{% hint style="info" %}
This demo showcases just a basic layout and a few general functionalities. We provide more functionalities through our API, which you can use to improve the user experience of your application or website.
{% endhint %}