Application programming interfaces for structuring distributed systems

Abstract

A system and environment to enable entities to utilize delivery services provided by a service provider are described herein. In some examples, the service provider exposes the delivery services to a computing device associated with a merchant, buyer, and/or others using one or more Applicant Programming Interfaces (APIs) provided by the service provider. The one or more APIs may enable merchants and/or others to automatically integrate the delivery services into technologies used by the merchants and/or others in order to facilitate delivery of items that are offered for acquisition by the merchants.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method comprising:
 exposing, by a service computing device, one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that provide a merchant computing device of a merchant access to a plurality of third-party services capable of facilitating one or more fulfillment actions associated with the merchant;   receiving, by the service computing device via the one or more APIs and from the merchant computing device, a request to process a fulfillment action of the one or more fulfillment actions, wherein the fulfillment action is associated with one or more orders, and wherein an individual order of the one or more orders is for one or more items offered by the merchant;   determining, by the service computing device, a third-party service of the plurality of third-party services to process the fulfillment action; and   configuring, by the service computing device and via the one or more APIs, a flow of information between the merchant and the third-party service.   
     
     
         22 . The method as  claim 21  recites, further comprising:
 before receiving the request to process the fulfillment action, receiving, by the service computing device and from a customer computing device associated with a customer, the one or more orders; and 
 sending the one or more orders by the service computing device to the merchant computing device via the one or more APIs, 
 wherein the request to process the fulfillment action is at least partly responsive to the service computing device sending the one or more orders. 
 
     
     
         23 . The method as  claim 21  recites, wherein the one or more orders are received by the merchant computing device from a customer computing device associated with a customer. 
     
     
         24 . The method as  claim 21  recites, wherein the fulfillment action comprises at least one of shipping at least one of the one or more items, hand-delivering at least one of the one or more items, or readying at least one of the one or more items for pickup at a merchant location. 
     
     
         25 . The method as  claim 21  recites, wherein determining the third-party service comprises identifying a third-party service associated with a first response received by the service computing device, wherein the first response comprises a response to a proposal sent by the service computing device to the plurality of third-party services. 
     
     
         26 . The method as  claim 25  recites, wherein the first response is received from a computing device associated with the third-party service via the one or more APIs or one or more other APIs. 
     
     
         27 . The method as  claim 21  recites, wherein determining the third-party service is based at least in part on analyzing the request to process the fulfillment action relative to information associated with at least one of the merchant, a customer associated with the one or more orders, or at least a portion of the plurality of third-party services, wherein the information is stored in a data store associated with the service computing device. 
     
     
         28 . The method as  claim 27  recites, wherein determining the third-party service is based at least in part on analyzing the request to process the fulfillment action relative to at least one of:
 a location of the third-party service relative to a location of the merchant; 
 an availability of the third-party service for the fulfillment action; 
 a type of vehicle that is used by the third-party service to transport at least one of the one or more; or 
 characteristics of at least one of the one or more items. 
 
     
     
         29 . The method as  claim 21  recites, wherein the order is an order for food items and the merchant comprises a restaurant. 
     
     
         30 . The method as  claim 21  recites, further comprising:
 transmitting, by the service computing device and to a computing device associated with the third-party service, a request for a status of the fulfillment action; 
 receiving, by the service computing device and from the computing device associated with the third-party service, the status of the fulfillment action; and 
 sending, by the service computing device and to the merchant device, the status of the fulfillment action. 
 
     
     
         31 . The method as  claim 21  recites, wherein the fulfillment action comprises delivery of at least one item of the one or more items, the method further comprising:
 receiving, by the service computing device via the one or more APIs and from the merchant computing device, a request for a delivery status of the at least one item; 
 receiving, by the service computing device and from a computing device associated with the third-party service, location information for a mobile device associated with a courier associated with the third-party service; 
 determining, by the service computing device, the delivery status of the at least one item by the courier; and 
 sending, by the service computing device and to at least one of the merchant device or a customer computing device associated with a customer associated with the one or more orders, the delivery status. 
 
     
     
         32 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 exposing one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that provide a merchant computing device of a merchant access to a plurality of third-party services capable of facilitating one or more fulfillment actions associated with the merchant;   receiving, via the one or more APIs and from the merchant computing device, a request to process a fulfillment action of the one or more fulfillment actions associated with an order for one or more items offered for acquisition by the merchant;   determining a third-party service of the plurality of third-party services to process the fulfillment action; and   sending, to a computing device associated with the third-party service, instructions for completing the fulfillment action.   
     
     
         33 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as  claim 32  recites, the operations further comprising:
 causing presentation, by the service computing device and via an application executing on a customer computing device of a customer associated with the order, of a user interface, wherein the user interface allows the customer to place the order, 
 wherein the order includes customer-specified information comprising at least one of a type of delivery, a location of delivery, a requested time of pickup of the one or more items, or a location of pickup of the one or more items. 
 
     
     
         34 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as  claim 33  recites, wherein the request to process the fulfillment action includes the customer-specified information and merchant-specified information, wherein the merchant-specified information comprises at least one of a size of an item of the one or more items, a weight of the item, or whether the item is associated with a predetermined category. 
     
     
         35 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as  claim 32  recites, the operations further comprising:
 determining, based at least in part on a customer profile or a merchant profile stored in a data store associated with the service computing device, information comprising at least one of a location of delivery of the one or more items, a requested time of a pickup, a location of the pickup, a size of at least one of the one or more items, a weight of at least one of the one or more items, or whether an item of the one or more items is associated with a predetermined category, 
 wherein determining the third-party service to process the fulfillment action is based at least in part on the information. 
 
     
     
         36 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors;   one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
 exposing one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that provide a merchant computing device of a merchant access to a plurality of third-party services capable of facilitating one or more fulfillment actions associated with the merchant; 
 receiving, via the one or more APIs and from the merchant computing device, a request to process a fulfillment action of the one or more fulfillment actions, wherein the fulfillment action is associated with one or more orders of a customer; 
 determining a third-party service of the plurality of third-party services to process the fulfillment action; and 
 sending, to a computing device associated with the third-party service, instructions to process the fulfillment action. 
   
     
     
         37 . The system as  claim 36  recites, wherein exposing the one or more APIs comprises exposing the one or more APIs to enable a service provider to facilitate delivery of at least one item associated with the one or more orders. 
     
     
         38 . The system as  claim 36  recites, wherein the instructions to process the fulfillment action include information derived from a merchant profile of the merchant or a customer profile of the customer, wherein the merchant profile and the customer profile are stored in a data store associated with the service computing device. 
     
     
         39 . The system as  claim 36  recites, wherein determining the third-party service comprises:
 analyzing, by the service computing device, the request to process the fulfillment action relative to information associated with at least one of the merchant, the customer, or at least a portion of the plurality of third-party services, wherein the information is stored in a data store associated with the service computing device. 
 
     
     
         40 . The system as  claim 39  recites, wherein the information associated with at least a portion of the plurality of third-party services comprises at least one of a location of individual third-party services of the plurality of third-party services relative to a location of the merchant, an availability of individual ones of plurality of the third-party services for the fulfillment action, or a type of vehicle that is used by individual ones of plurality of the third-party services for transportation.