{
 "categories": [
  "shipping",
  "logistics"
 ],
 "deployment": "saas",
 "evidence": [
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "homepage",
   "note": "AfterShip presents Tracking and Returns as post-purchase products, with branded tracking pages, estimated delivery dates, and 1,600-plus global carriers on the marketing homepage.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "license",
   "note": "Authentication docs tell users to create an AfterShip account for free, then create an API key in the developer portal.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/authentication",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.api.exists",
   "note": "AfterShip documents a Tracking API for creating and managing trackings over HTTPS at api.aftership.com.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.api.kinds[0]",
   "note": "The API overview lists REST operations against https://api.aftership.com/tracking/2026-07, including GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE tracking and courier-connection routes.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/fcd9acb5f448a-api-overview",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.api.auth[0]",
   "note": "API Key authentication sends the developer-portal key in the as-api-key header.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/authentication",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.api.auth[1]",
   "note": "AES authentication requires as-api-key plus as-signature-hmac-sha256, date, and content-type headers. The signature is valid for three minutes around the date header.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/authentication",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.api.auth[2]",
   "note": "RSA authentication requires as-api-key plus as-signature-rsa-sha256 using RSA_SIGN_PSS_2048_SHA256, with the same date window as AES.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/authentication",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.api.coverage",
   "note": "Documented write and read operations cover create, update, get, delete, retrack, and mark-as-completed for trackings, plus courier detect and webhooks. Branded tracking-page administration is not claimed as API coverage.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.api.docs",
   "note": "Opened as AfterShip Tracking's current API quick start for version 2026-07, including create, update, GET, and webhook scenarios.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.sdk.exists",
   "note": "AfterShip publishes an official Tracking API library for Node.js as @aftership/tracking-sdk, covering create, get, update, delete, retrack, and mark-as-completed.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AfterShip/tracking-sdk-nodejs/master/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.sdk.languages[0]",
   "note": "The documented official SDK in the opened README is JavaScript/Node.js, installed with npm install --save @aftership/tracking-sdk.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AfterShip/tracking-sdk-nodejs/master/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.mcp.first_party",
   "note": "AfterShip's vendor README documents a hosted public MCP at https://mcp.aftership.com/tracking/public with Streamable HTTP and no authentication.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aftership/tracking-and-returns-mcp/main/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.mcp.first_party",
   "note": "GitHub API reports owner AfterShip, pushed_at 2026-04-28, updated_at 2026-05-17, archived false.",
   "source": "https://api.github.com/repos/aftership/tracking-and-returns-mcp",
   "tier": "scraped"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.mcp.verdict",
   "note": "The vendor README names tools track_shipment and get_returns_demo, states the server is read-only, and points commercial volume to the Tracking API rather than this public endpoint.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aftership/tracking-and-returns-mcp/main/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.extensibility.webhooks",
   "note": "AfterShip Tracking can POST tracking updates to configured webhook URLs. Each request includes an aftership-hmac-sha256 signature over the body and the account webhook secret.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.data_access.export[0]",
   "note": "GET https://api.aftership.com/tracking/2026-07/trackings/:id returns tracking JSON. GET is limited to 5 requests per second on that route.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.data_access.import[0]",
   "note": "POST https://api.aftership.com/tracking/2026-07/trackings creates a tracking. PUT updates an existing tracking by id.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.data_access.import[1]",
   "note": "AfterShip documents RFC 4180 CSV upload and CSV auto-fetch from a remote server for bulk tracking import. Sign-up is described as free.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/others/csv-upload-ftp-auto-fetch",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "modalities.agent_docs.llms_txt",
   "note": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/llms.txt rendered the Tracking API documentation hub HTML, not a dedicated agent llms.txt index.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/llms.txt",
   "tier": "scraped"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "verdict.scores.api",
   "note": "The Tracking REST API is documented, authenticated, and read/write across trackings, couriers, courier connections, and estimated delivery dates, with per-endpoint rate limits. That is broad production coverage rather than unusual completeness.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/rate-limit",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "verdict.scores.mcp",
   "note": "The official public MCP is maintained and useful for unauthenticated tracking lookup, but it is read-only, fair-use limited, and is not a tenant tracking-management API. get_returns_demo is a Returns Center preview, not Returns product automation.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aftership/tracking-and-returns-mcp/main/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[0].url",
   "note": "Opened the AfterShip tracking-and-returns-mcp GitHub repository page for the public Tracking MCP.",
   "source": "https://github.com/aftership/tracking-and-returns-mcp",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[1].url",
   "note": "Opened and verified as the current public MCP README: no-auth https://mcp.aftership.com/tracking/public, track_shipment, get_returns_demo, Streamable HTTP, read-only fair use.",
   "source": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aftership/tracking-and-returns-mcp/main/README.md",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[2].url",
   "note": "Opened and verified as the current Tracking API quick start for 2026-07, including create, update, GET, and webhook signature behavior.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[3].url",
   "note": "Opened and verified as the current Tracking API authentication page documenting API Key, AES, and RSA methods.",
   "source": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/authentication",
   "tier": "declared"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[4].url",
   "note": "Bounded official MCP registry query returned com.aftership.mcp/tracking-public with remotes.url https://mcp.aftership.com/tracking/public and status active. Latest listed version is 1.0.1.",
   "source": "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=aftership",
   "tier": "scraped"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-06",
   "fact": "freshness.watch[5].url",
   "note": "Opened AfterShip's Post-purchase MCP help article. The connector is read-only, uses OAuth organization sign-in at https://mcp.aftership.com/post-purchase, and names list_shipments, get_shipment, list_returns, and get_return. It is not a write API.",
   "source": "https://support.aftership.com/en/tracking/articles/16441668-use-aftership-post-purchase-mcp-with-an-ai-assistant",
   "tier": "declared"
  }
 ],
 "freshness": {
  "last_verified": "2026-09-06",
  "volatility": "high",
  "watch": [
   {
    "type": "mcp",
    "url": "https://github.com/aftership/tracking-and-returns-mcp"
   },
   {
    "type": "mcp",
    "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aftership/tracking-and-returns-mcp/main/README.md"
   },
   {
    "type": "docs",
    "url": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start"
   },
   {
    "type": "docs",
    "url": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/authentication"
   },
   {
    "type": "registry",
    "url": "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=aftership"
   },
   {
    "type": "mcp",
    "url": "https://support.aftership.com/en/tracking/articles/16441668-use-aftership-post-purchase-mcp-with-an-ai-assistant"
   }
  ]
 },
 "homepage": "https://www.aftership.com",
 "id": "aftership",
 "license": "freemium",
 "modalities": {
  "agent_docs": {
   "llms_txt": false
  },
  "api": {
   "auth": [
    "api-key",
    "aes-hmac",
    "rsa"
   ],
   "coverage": "partial",
   "docs": "https://www.aftership.com/docs/tracking/quickstart/api-quick-start",
   "exists": true,
   "kinds": [
    "rest"
   ]
  },
  "cli": {
   "exists": "unknown"
  },
  "computer_use": {
   "issues": [],
   "viability": "unknown"
  },
  "data_access": {
   "export": [
    "api-json"
   ],
   "import": [
    "api-json",
    "csv"
   ]
  },
  "extensibility": {
   "scripting": [],
   "webhooks": true
  },
  "integrations": {
   "make": "unknown",
   "n8n": "unknown",
   "power_automate": "unknown",
   "zapier": "unknown"
  },
  "mcp": {
   "first_party": true,
   "third_party": [],
   "verdict": "official"
  },
  "rpa": {
   "drivability": "unknown",
   "notes": "No repeatable UI probe was run. AfterShip Tracking's REST API, official Node.js SDK, and public tracking MCP cover practical automation without browser control.\n",
   "ui_stack": [
    "web-dom"
   ],
   "vendor_support": []
  },
  "sdk": {
   "exists": true,
   "languages": [
    "javascript"
   ],
   "official": true
  }
 },
 "name": "AfterShip Tracking",
 "platforms": [
  "web"
 ],
 "related": {
  "alternatives": [
   "nshift-consignor"
  ],
  "our_products": []
 },
 "schema_version": 1,
 "score_version": 1,
 "status": "active",
 "vendor": "AfterShip",
 "verdict": {
  "best_path": "api",
  "scores": {
   "api": 8,
   "cli": null,
   "computer_use": null,
   "integrations": null,
   "mcp": 6,
   "overall": 8,
   "rpa": null
  },
  "summary": "AfterShip Tracking is automatable today through its versioned Tracking REST API. The current base is https://api.aftership.com/tracking/2026-07. Authenticated clients can create, list, get, update, and delete trackings, retrack expired shipments, mark trackings completed, detect couriers, manage courier connections, and request estimated delivery dates. Three documented authentication methods are an as-api-key header, AES HMAC request signing, and RSA PSS request signing. Official Node.js SDK @aftership/tracking-sdk wraps those tracking endpoints. Per-endpoint rate limits apply; GET /trackings/:id is 5 requests per second. A first-party public MCP at https://mcp.aftership.com/tracking/public requires no authentication, uses Streamable HTTP, and exposes track_shipment for public package lookup plus get_returns_demo as a named AfterShip Returns Center demo. That public server is read-only, returns no PII, and is limited to personal non-commercial fair use; it is not an authenticated tracking-management API and cannot create, modify, or delete trackings. AfterShip also documents a separate Post-purchase MCP at https://mcp.aftership.com/post-purchase that is organization-scoped, OAuth-signed, and read-only, including list_returns and get_return; Returns stays outside this record except as that named demo and those named tools. This record excludes nShift/Consignor. Computer-use viability is unassessed. API scores 8 and is the best path.\n"
 }
}