How to Integrate Retool with AliExpress API

Before creating the Retool resource, you need to register your application on the AliExpress Open Platform. Navigate to https://developers.aliexpress.com and sign in with your AliExpress or Alibaba account. Create a new application in the developer console and select the API categories you need: Product (for product search), Order (for order management), and Logistics (for shipping tracking). After your application is approved (approval can take 1-3 business days for some categories), locate your App Key and App Secret in the application detail page. These are your API credentials — the App Key is public and included in every request, while the App Secret is private and used only for request signing on the server side. For APIs that require user authorization (such as order management APIs that access a specific seller's orders), you will need to complete an OAuth flow to obtain a user-level access token. AliExpress's OAuth flow follows a standard pattern: redirect the seller to the authorization URL with your app key and redirect URI, receive an authorization code, and exchange it for an access token via a POST request. Once you have your credentials (App Key, App Secret, and access token if needed), store them as configuration variables in Retool: Settings → Configuration Variables → create ALIEXPRESS_APP_KEY, ALIEXPRESS_APP_SECRET, and ALIEXPRESS_ACCESS_TOKEN, all marked as Secret.

Navigate to the Resources tab in Retool and click Add Resource. Select REST API. Name it 'AliExpress API'. In the Base URL field, enter https://api-sg.aliexpress.com/rest. This is AliExpress's global API gateway endpoint — for EU-based businesses, you may use https://api-eu.aliexpress.com/rest instead. AliExpress uses a signature-based authentication where each request must include: app_key, session (access token), timestamp, method (the API method name), format (json), v (2.0), sign_method (hmac-md5), and sign (HMAC-MD5 signature). Because the signature must be computed dynamically for each request, you cannot configure it as a static resource header. Instead, create all AliExpress queries as JavaScript query types in Retool, which allow you to compute the signature before making the request. For the REST API Resource, configure only the base URL without authentication — the JavaScript queries will handle authentication by computing the signature and passing all required parameters. Alternatively, if you use a simpler affiliate API endpoint (such as product search via the Affiliate API), the authentication is simpler: just pass app_key and api_sig as URL parameters. Click Save Changes. The AliExpress resource is set up with just the base URL; authentication details are handled per-query in JavaScript.

1// JavaScript helper — compute AliExpress request signature
2// Include this at the top of AliExpress JavaScript queries
3function computeAliExpressSign(appSecret, params) {
4  // Sort params alphabetically by key
5  const sortedKeys = Object.keys(params).sort();
6  // Concatenate: secret + key1value1 + key2value2 ... + secret
7  let signString = appSecret;
8  for (const key of sortedKeys) {
9    signString += key + params[key];
10  }
11  signString += appSecret;
12  // HMAC-MD5 is not natively available in Retool JS — use MD5 library or
13  // call a backend signing endpoint. For simpler affiliate APIs, use SHA256.
14  // This is a placeholder — replace with your signing implementation.
15  return signString; // Replace with actual HMAC-MD5 computation
16}

Create a JavaScript query to search AliExpress products. Because AliExpress requires request signing, use Retool's JavaScript query type rather than a standard REST query. In the Code panel, click the + button and select JavaScript query. Name it searchProducts. In the JavaScript query body, build the request parameters object, add all required AliExpress authentication fields, compute the signature, and use the fetch API or Retool's built-in RESTapi.query() to call the endpoint. For the AliExpress Affiliate Product Query API (aliexpress.affiliate.product.query), construct the parameters including: app_key, method, session, timestamp, format, v, sign_method, keywords, page_no, page_size, and sort. Alternatively, if you have access to a simpler product search endpoint via the Open Platform, create a standard REST query with the AliExpress API resource, set Method to POST, and configure the body as form-encoded parameters including all required auth fields. The product search response includes items with: product_id, product_title, sale_price, original_price, product_main_image_url, product_detail_url, evaluate_rate (rating), 30-day order count, and shipping_lead_days. Add a Text Input component named textInput_keywords for the search term, and a Dropdown for sort order (price ascending, orders descending, rating descending). Bind the Table to the search results using a transformer that flattens the nested response structure.

1// JavaScript transformer — format AliExpress product search results
2const items = (data.aliexpress_affiliate_product_query_response?.resp_result?.result?.products?.product || []);
3return items.map(product => {
4  return {
5    product_id: product.product_id,
6    title: (product.product_title || '').substring(0, 80),
7    sale_price: product.target_sale_price
8      ? `${product.target_sale_price} ${product.target_sale_price_currency || 'USD'}`
9      : 'N/A',
10    original_price: product.original_price
11      ? `${product.original_price} ${product.original_price_currency || 'USD'}`
12      : 'N/A',
13    discount: product.target_sale_price && product.original_price
14      ? `${Math.round((1 - parseFloat(product.target_sale_price) / parseFloat(product.original_price)) * 100)}% off`
15      : 'N/A',
16    rating: product.evaluate_rate ? `${product.evaluate_rate}%` : 'N/A',
17    orders_30d: product.lastest_volume || 0,
18    shipping_days: product.ship_to_days || 'N/A',
19    store_name: product.shop_url || 'N/A',
20    detail_url: product.product_detail_url || ''
21  };
22});

Create queries to fetch and display order data from your AliExpress account. Order management requires user-level access token authentication. Create a JavaScript query named getOrders targeting the aliexpress.trade.order.get or aliexpress.solution.order.fulfillment.list API method. Construct the request parameters including the required auth fields (app_key, session, timestamp, sign) plus order-specific parameters: page_size (up to 50), page_no, create_date_start, create_date_end, and order_status filters. The order response includes: order_id, gmt_create (order date), order_status, payment_status, total_settle_amount (total cost), logistics_info (carrier, tracking number, status), and product details for each line item. Create a second query named getOrderLogistics for fetching detailed tracking information for a selected order. Use the aliexpress.logistics.express.reachable or aliexpress.logistics.order.track method with the order_id as the parameter. Bind the orders Table to getOrders results using a transformer. When a row is selected in the orders table, trigger getOrderLogistics to populate a logistics detail panel showing tracking events in chronological order. Add date range picker components for filtering orders by creation date, and a Dropdown for order status filtering (PLACE, IN_CANCEL, WAIT_SELLER_SEND_GOODS, SELLER_PART_SEND_GOODS, WAIT_BUYER_ACCEPT_GOODS, IN_ISSUE, IN_FROZEN, WAIT_SELLER_EXAMINE_MONEY, FINISH, IN_PROBLEM, etc.).

1// JavaScript transformer — format AliExpress orders for the Table component
2const orders = (data.aliexpress_trade_order_get_response?.result?.order || []);
3return orders.map(order => {
4  const logistics = order.logistics_info_list?.aliexpress_order_logistics_info?.[0] || {};
5  return {
6    order_id: order.order_id,
7    created_date: order.gmt_create
8      ? new Date(order.gmt_create).toLocaleDateString()
9      : 'N/A',
10    order_status: order.order_status || 'N/A',
11    payment_status: order.fund_status || 'N/A',
12    total_cost: order.order_amount
13      ? `${order.order_amount} ${order.order_currency || 'USD'}`
14      : 'N/A',
15    carrier: logistics.logistics_service_name || 'N/A',
16    tracking_number: logistics.tracking_no || 'Not assigned',
17    logistics_status: logistics.logistics_status || 'N/A',
18    estimated_delivery: logistics.estimated_delivery_time || 'N/A',
19    product_count: order.child_order_list?.aliexpress_trade_order_and_tax_item?.length || 0
20  };
21});