Orders and Shipments

The Bigship SDK has two distinct concepts: Orders and Shipments. Understanding the difference is essential for using the API correctly.

Orders

An order is the data submission stage. You provide shipment details — consignee information, product details, payment method, and documents. At this point, no courier has been assigned and no physical movement has occurred.

Order methods:

Method	Type	Description
addSingleOrder	B2C	Submit a single-box consumer order
addHeavyOrder	B2B	Submit a multi-box business order

const order = await client.addSingleOrder({
  consignee_name: 'Jane Doe',
  product_name: 'Laptop',
  payment_type: 'Prepaid',
  total_collectable_amount: 0,
  box_count: 1,
  invoice_document_file: 'data:application/pdf;base64,...',
  // ...other fields
});

Shipments

A shipment is the physical movement stage. After an order is manifested, a courier is assigned, an AWB or LRN is generated, and the package can be tracked and labeled.

Shipment methods:

Method	Description
manifestSingle	Assign courier to a B2C order
manifestHeavy	Assign courier to a B2B order
getAWB	Retrieve the AWB number
getShipmentFile	Retrieve shipping label or other documents

// Manifest the order to create a shipment
const manifest = await client.manifestSingle({ order_id: 'ORD-123' });

// Now retrieve the AWB
const awb = await client.getAWB({ order_id: 'ORD-123' });

// Get the shipping label
const label = await client.getShipmentFile({ awb: awb.data });

Lifecycle

Order Created ──→ Manifested ──→ Shipment Active ──→ Delivered
(addSingleOrder)  (manifestSingle)  (AWB assigned)    (tracked)

An order becomes a shipment after manifestation. Until then, it exists only as a data record with no courier assignment or tracking number.