MacroPoint API
Descartes MacroPoint is a supply chain visibility platform from The Descartes Systems Group, serving roughly 24,000 customers worldwide. This page is an independent design exercise that asks what a well-designed MacroPoint API could look like: the resources it would expose, the authentication it would need, and the workflows it could unlock. Below: a hypothetical endpoint design, the technical requirements a production implementation would face, the use cases programmatic access could serve, and where to start if your team needs this kind of access today.
This page is an independent analysis by Supergood of what a well-designed MacroPoint API could look like. It draws on publicly available information, vendor materials, and general integration experience in this category. Nothing on this page describes an existing MacroPoint product, and Supergood is not affiliated with or endorsed by the vendor. If the vendor offers an official API, we highly recommend it.
What is MacroPoint?
Descartes MacroPoint is a supply chain visibility platform from The Descartes Systems Group, serving roughly 24,000 customers worldwide. It provides real-time shipment tracking and control across multiple transportation modes, connecting shippers, freight brokers, 3PLs, and carriers through a network of hundreds of thousands of participating carriers and logistics providers. Customers use MacroPoint to track loads, monitor temperature and dwell, source capacity, and surface analytics, integrating it directly with their TMS or ERP.
Core product areas include:
- Real-time Visibility (multi-modal shipment tracking and status updates)
- OpsForce AI (agentic AI agents that improve visibility data quality)
- FraudGuard (carrier fraud detection and prevention)
- Analytics & Intelligence dashboards and Advanced Store Visibility (retail)
- Dock Appointment Scheduling, Temperature Tracking, and Proof of Delivery
- Capacity Sourcing across the connected carrier network
An API for a platform like this would naturally organize around its core data entities:
- Tracking Sessions, Orders, Shipments, Loads, Stops
- Location Updates, ETAs, Status Events, Geofence Arrivals/Departures
- Carriers, Drivers, Dispatchers, Mobile App / ELD Connections
- Temperature Readings, Dwell, Detention, Proof of Delivery
- Appointments, Docks, Capacity Postings, Tenders
- Webhook Callbacks, Exception Alerts, Analytics Outputs
The MacroPoint Integration Challenge
Brokers and shippers run mission-critical tracking on MacroPoint daily, but wiring it into automated workflows across a multi-modal, multi-carrier network is non-trivial:
- XML-only, Basic-auth surface: The customer integration API uses Basic authentication with application/xml requests and responses, which adds friction for modern JSON-first stacks
- Session lifecycle complexity: Tracking sessions must be created, updated, and stopped/cancelled in precise order, and stale or duplicate sessions break visibility
- Webhook callback handling: Visibility updates flow back asynchronously via callbacks that require a public endpoint, retry handling, and idempotent processing
- Multi-modal spread: Truckload, LTL, ocean, air, rail/intermodal, parcel, and pool each carry different identifiers, tracking methods, and status models
- Carrier-side coverage variability: Tracking depends on driver mobile app, ELD, or telematics connections that differ carrier-by-carrier, so data completeness is uneven
- Mixed transport options: REST APIs and SFTP/FTPS flat-file uploads coexist, and choosing and maintaining the right path per integration is its own project
What a MacroPoint API Could Look Like
If MacroPoint exposed a modern, general-purpose API, the integration challenges above suggest what it would need to get right. This is a design sketch, not documentation of anything that exists today:
- First-class authentication: session handling with support for MFA and enterprise sign-on where the platform uses them
- Consistent resources: normalized JSON schemas and pagination across the platform's core objects
- Reliable writes: idempotency keys and validation that mirrors the platform's own workflow rules
- Entitlement awareness: endpoints scoped to what each customer's licensing actually permits
The endpoint sketches, technical requirements, and use cases below flesh out this hypothetical design.
How AI agents could connect to software like MacroPoint: MCP servers for software without a public API →
Need This Kind of Access Today?
If your team needs this kind of access today, Supergood builds integrations on request, one customer at a time. We act at the direction of our customers, within the access they already hold. Customers bring their own accounts, licenses, and entitlements. If the vendor offers an official API, we highly recommend it.
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Potential API Endpoints
Authentication
/authenticateWould authenticate to a MacroPoint account using Basic credentials and establish a managed session for downstream calls.
Tracking
/create_tracking_sessionWould create a tracking session for a shipment or load with carrier, stops, and mode details so MacroPoint begins capturing location updates.
Tracking
/tracking_sessionsWould update an existing tracking session's stops, carrier assignment, or reference numbers, or stop/cancel an active session.
Tracking
/tracking_sessionsWould list and retrieve tracking sessions with filters for status, mode, carrier, and reference number.
Visibility
/location_updatesWould pull location updates, ETAs, and status events for a shipment across truckload, LTL, ocean, air, rail, and parcel modes.
Capacity
/capacityWould query available carrier capacity and postings across the connected carrier network for sourcing and tendering.
Use Cases
Push tracking sessions straight from your TMS
- Create, update, and stop MacroPoint tracking sessions directly from load tender events - Sync carrier, stop, and reference data without re-keying into the portal - Auto-cancel duplicate or stale sessions to keep visibility clean
Stream real-time location and ETA events downstream
- Ingest location updates, ETAs, and status events via normalized webhook callbacks - Feed exception and dwell alerts into customer-notification and OTIF dashboards - Reconcile geofence arrivals and departures against appointment windows
Monitor temperature, dwell, and proof of delivery
- Pull temperature readings and excursion alerts for cold-chain shipments - Track detention and dwell against dock appointments for accessorial billing - Capture proof-of-delivery events to close out loads automatically
Source capacity across the connected carrier network
- Query available capacity and postings to fill open loads faster - Match carriers to lanes and modes programmatically - Trigger tenders and track acceptance without leaving your system
Connect via No-Code Tools
Automate this platform from the no-code stack you already use.
Technical Requirements
Authentication
Would require basic authentication with managed session handling with secure credential rotation
Connectivity
Would build on REST tracking API plus webhook callbacks, with SFTP/FTPS flat-file paths supported where used
Response format
Native MacroPoint XML translated to normalized JSON across sessions, locations, and status events
Rate limits
Adaptive throttling tuned to your account to avoid MacroPoint-side limits on session and tracking calls
Session management
Would need automatic re-authentication, tracking-session lifecycle handling, and credential rotation
Data freshness
Near real-time location and status updates with optional scheduled batch syncs
Security
Encrypted credential vault, scoped access, SOC 2-aligned controls, and audit logging
Webhooks
Normalized callbacks for location updates, ETAs, status events, geofence arrivals, and exceptions
Latency
Design target: sub-second reads on cached sessions; multi-second writes when creating or updating tracking sessions
Throughput
Design target: horizontally scaled workers sized to high-volume, multi-modal tracking-session loads
Reliability
Retry, backoff, and idempotency keys for session creation, updates, and callback processing
Versioning
Clear versioning and change management would matter as MacroPoint evolves
Frequently asked questions
Availability of official interfaces varies by product, plan, and licensing. Many platforms in this category gate access behind partner programs or paid modules, and there is often no broadly available, self-serve public API. Check the vendor's developer resources for current offerings.
The hard parts would be authentication (MFA, session management, enterprise controls), consistent schemas across the platform's products, and write semantics that reconcile the way the platform's own workflows do.
No. This page is an independent analysis by Supergood and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the vendor. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used for identification only. Nothing here documents an actual MacroPoint product or service.
Supergood acts at the direction of its customers, within the access those customers already have. We respect each customer's agreements with their software vendors, and how those agreements apply to a customer's use is a determination the customer makes. If the vendor offers an official API, we highly recommend it.
Supergood builds managed API access to enterprise software for customers on request, scoped to each customer's own licensing and entitlements. If your team needs programmatic access to a platform like this, schedule an integration assessment to discuss options.