FourKites API
FourKites is an AI-powered supply chain visibility and orchestration platform that tracks shipments in real time across over-the-road, ocean, air, rail, last-mile, and parcel for Fortune 2000 shippers and a network of more than a million carriers and suppliers. An unofficial API lets you programmatically pull shipments, loads, locations, events, orders, appointments, and yard activity—and push updates like tracking assignments, status changes, and appointment bookings back into FourKites.
What is FourKites?
FourKites is an AI-powered supply chain visibility and orchestration platform whose Real-Time Network processes over three million shipments daily, connecting Fortune 2000 shippers with a global ecosystem of carriers, suppliers, and facilities. Shippers use FourKites to track freight in real time across every mode, predict and resolve exceptions with autonomous AI agents, monitor on-time in-full (OTIF) performance, and optimize yard and appointment scheduling.
Core platform components include:
- Real-Time Network and Intelligent Control Tower (real-time tracking across OTR, ocean, air, rail/intermodal, last-mile, and parcel)
- Digital Twins (living models of orders, shipments, inventory, assets, and facility schedules)
- Loft AI agent platform (pre-built Digital Workers and custom agents for execution and procurement workflows)
- Inbound solutions (Supplier Connect AI, Booking Connect AI, Inbound Scheduler AI, Yard Connect AI)
- Outbound solutions (Customer Connect AI, Outbound Scheduler AI, Cross-Dock Optimizer AI)
- Yard operations (Dynamic Yard, YardWorks AI, AutoBooker, AutoGate AI)
Common data entities:
- Shipments, Loads, Stops, Routes, Modes
- Locations, Events, Status Updates, Position Pings, ETAs
- Orders, Inventory, Assets, Equipment
- Appointments, Dock Assignments, Trailer Moves, Yard Tasks
- Carriers, Suppliers, Facilities, Lanes, Dwell and Lead Times
- Exceptions, OTIF metrics, Proof of Delivery (POD) records
The FourKites Integration Challenge
Shippers and 3PLs run mission-critical tracking on FourKites every day, but turning network-wide visibility into clean API-driven automation is non-trivial:
- Fragmented API surface: tracking assignment, location, status, and Dynamic Yard APIs live across separate developer portals, GitHub repos, and Postman collections rather than one unified contract
- Onboarding and partnership gates: API key provisioning, environment separation, and carrier or shipper enablement often require account-team coordination before access is granted
- Mixed authentication: Basic and Digest auth, API keys, and per-integration credentials complicate building a single headless client
- Multi-mode object variance: OTR, ocean, air, rail, and parcel shipments carry different identifiers, milestones, and ETA semantics that generic integrations flatten incorrectly
- High-volume event streams: real-time position pings and status events at network scale require careful pagination, deduplication, and webhook subscription handling
- Two-way yard workflows: subscribing to Dynamic Yard appointment, gate, and trailer-move events to keep a WMS or YMS in sync demands precise event ordering and reconciliation
How Supergood Creates FourKites APIs
Supergood reverse-engineers FourKites' authenticated flows, REST resources, and webhook event streams to deliver a single resilient API layer over your FourKites tenant—spanning tracking, yard, and order data across every mode.
- Handles Basic, Digest, and API-key authentication inside a managed, automatically refreshed session
- Unifies tracking-assignment, location, status, and Dynamic Yard endpoints behind one consistent contract
- Normalizes shipments, loads, events, and appointments across OTR, ocean, air, rail, and parcel so you integrate once and rely on consistent objects
- Manages high-volume position and event streams with pagination, deduplication, and webhook subscriptions
Use FourKites with AI agents: FourKites MCP Server →
Getting Started
- Schedule Integration Assessment
Book a 30-minute session to confirm your modules, transportation modes, and authentication model.
- Supergood Generates and Validates Your API
We deliver a production-ready FourKites adapter tailored to your network, modes, and entitlements.
- Deploy with Monitoring
Go live with continuous monitoring and automatic adjustments as FourKites evolves.
API Endpoints
Authentication
/authenticateAuthenticate to a FourKites tenant using API key, Basic, or Digest credentials and obtain a session for downstream calls.
Shipments
/shipmentsList shipments and loads across all modes with filters for status, mode, lane, carrier, and ETA range.
Shipments
/create_shipmentCreate a shipment or load and assign tracking so it can be monitored across the FourKites network.
Tracking
/trackingRetrieve real-time location pings, milestones, status events, and predicted ETAs for a shipment or load.
Tracking
/status_updatesPost position updates and status events from a carrier or TMS against an assigned shipment.
Yard
/appointmentsPull Dynamic Yard appointments, dock assignments, and trailer moves, and subscribe to gate and yard events.
Use Cases
Sync real-time shipment tracking into your TMS and warehouse
- Pull shipments, loads, and position pings across OTR, ocean, air, rail, and parcel into one warehouse - Stream status events, milestones, and predicted ETAs to downstream BI and customer-facing tools - Reconcile carrier, lane, and facility records for a unified shipment 360
Automate tracking assignment and carrier status updates
- Assign tracking to new loads and push vehicle and driver details without portal clicks - Post position and status updates from carrier or TMS systems against assigned shipments - Route exceptions and OTIF risks to operations teams as they emerge
Keep yard and appointment operations in sync
- Sync Dynamic Yard appointments, dock assignments, and trailer moves into a WMS or YMS - Subscribe to gate, check-in, and yard-task events for two-way reconciliation - Trigger AutoBooker and scheduler workflows when inbound or outbound loads change
Power AI agents and analytics on supply chain data
- Feed normalized shipment, event, and order data to forecasting and exception-resolution models - Surface OTIF performance and dwell-time metrics to dashboards and procurement workflows - Attach proof-of-delivery records and documents to orders for audit and dispute handling
Technical Specifications
Authentication
API key, Basic, and Digest authentication handled in a managed, auto-refreshed session
Connectivity
FourKites REST resources plus tracking-assignment, status, and Dynamic Yard endpoints unified behind one contract
Response format
Normalized JSON across Shipments, Loads, Events, Locations, Orders, and Yard objects
Rate limits
Adaptive throttling tuned to your tenant to avoid FourKites-side limits on high-volume event streams
Session management
Automatic session refresh, credential rotation, and per-integration key handling
Data freshness
Near real-time pulls for position pings, status events, and ETAs with optional scheduled batch syncs
Security
Encrypted credential vault, scoped access tokens, SOC 2-aligned controls, and audit logging
Webhooks
Event subscriptions for shipment status, milestones, exceptions, and Dynamic Yard gate and appointment changes
Latency
Sub-second reads on cached entities; multi-second writes when posting tracking assignments and status updates
Throughput
Horizontally scaled workers sized to network-scale shipment and position-ping volume across all modes
Reliability
Retry, backoff, and idempotency keys for tracking assignments, status updates, and appointment writes
Adaptation
Continuous monitoring of FourKites releases, developer-portal changes, and per-integration configuration drift
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Supergood normalizes shipments, loads, and events across over-the-road, ocean, air, rail/intermodal, last-mile, and parcel, so you integrate mode-specific identifiers and milestones once behind a consistent object model.
No. Supergood works with your existing FourKites entitlements, API keys, and authenticated sessions. Account-team enablement is only needed where FourKites itself gates a specific module or environment.
Yes. Supergood subscribes to FourKites webhook and Dynamic Yard event streams—shipment status, milestones, exceptions, and gate and appointment changes—and delivers them to your endpoint with deduplication and ordering handled.
Yes. Beyond reading appointments, dock assignments, and trailer moves, Supergood can post bookings and status changes back into Dynamic Yard so your WMS or YMS stays in sync.
Supergood manages pagination, deduplication, and adaptive throttling for network-scale position pings and status events, so you get reliable streams without hitting FourKites-side rate limits.