Guides
Glossary
One place for the terms that recur across the APIs, so the same word always means the same thing.
Most-looked-up
externalIdvsRequest-idretrieved- Cash Collection vs Mobile Wallet
- Whish vs Whish Money
Identifiers
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
externalId | A unique, numeric identifier you generate for an operation on the Whish (api.whish.money) APIs. Sent in the request body. It is your idempotency key: reuse the same value to recover a result instead of creating a duplicate. |
Request-id | The equivalent unique numeric identifier for International Money Transfer, sent as a request header. A new one per new transfer; resend the same one to retry after a timeout (a repeat returns transfer.already.done). The same value is reused as requestId to look a transfer up later. |
requestId | The Request-id you sent, echoed in the Get Transfer Status request body (and in a transfer callback as externalId) so you can correlate a result to your record. |
transferId | The reference of a money transfer, returned by the API. A string, used with Cancel and Get Transfer Status. |
ltnNumber | The number a receiver uses to collect a Cash Collection transfer from a Whish Money agent. |
session_id | A Whish Pay QR payment session identifier, for your records and support queries. Status and callbacks key off your externalId, not this. |
denominationId | The identifier of a product or biller (a bill type, voucher denomination, or top-up product) that Whish assigns. |
Concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Envelope | The shared JSON response shape: status, code, dialog, data, actions/extra, and (on idempotent calls) retrieved. See Errors & response format. |
retrieved | true when a response replays an already-processed request rather than running it again. How you recover a result after a timeout without double-charging. |
| Idempotency | The property that repeating the same request has the same effect as sending it once. Reuse the same externalId / Request-id to retry: the repeat returns the recorded result (retrieved: true on the Whish APIs, transfer.already.done on International Money Transfer) instead of acting twice. |
| Callback | An HTTP request Whish sends to your callbackUrl when an outcome is known. Your primary confirmation signal; confirm with the status endpoint before fulfilling. |
| Pending | A status: false with code: 500: the outcome is unknown, not failed. Escalate and reconcile. |
| Sandbox / Production | The test environment and the live environment. Each of the two platforms has both; validate in Sandbox first. |
Payment modes (International Money Transfer)
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
CASH_COLLECTION | The receiver collects cash from a Whish Money agent using the ltnNumber. Moves through statuses (SENT → RECEIVED), supports callbacks, and can be canceled before collection. |
MOBILE_WALLET | Funds are credited directly to the receiver's Whish wallet. Instant and final at send time, with no callback and no cancellation. |
Platforms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Whish | The api.whish.money/itel-service/api host: Whish Pay, Whish Pay QR, Whish Pay Split, Bills, Vouchers, Variable Topup, International Topup, Direct Credit. |
| Whish Money | The api.woocash.money host: International Money Transfer. |