WooCommerce REST API v3: Retrieve Products with Authentication and Pagination

Quick Answer: Get Products via WooCommerce REST API

Use your consumer key and secret to authenticate requests to /wp-json/wc/v3/products. Pass credentials via Basic Auth header or query parameters, and paginate results using per_page (max 100) and page parameters.

Authentication Setup

Generate consumer keys in WooCommerce admin under Settings → Advanced → REST API. Create a new key with appropriate permissions (read for product retrieval). Store the consumer key and secret securely—they grant full API access.

Working Configuration Example

Retrieve first 50 products using cURL:

curl -u ck_your_consumer_key:cs_your_consumer_secret \
  https://yourstore.com/wp-json/wc/v3/products?per_page=50&page=1

For programmatic access in PHP:

<?php
$consumerKey = 'ck_your_key';
$consumerSecret = 'cs_your_secret';
$storeUrl = 'https://yourstore.com';

$args = [
    'per_page' => 50,
    'page' => 1
];

$query = http_build_query($args);
$url = "{$storeUrl}/wp-json/wc/v3/products?{$query}";

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "{$consumerKey}:{$consumerSecret}");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$products = json_decode($response, true);
?>

Pagination Strategy

The API returns pagination metadata in response headers:

• X-WP-Total: Total number of products
• X-WP-TotalPages: Total pages available

For bulk operations, iterate through pages:

<?php
$totalPages = 0;
$page = 1;
$allProducts = [];

// First request to get total pages
$response = getProducts(1); // Your function
$headers = getResponseHeaders();
$totalPages = $headers['X-WP-TotalPages'];

// Fetch remaining pages
for ($i = 1; $i <= $totalPages; $i++) {
    $products = getProducts($i);
    $allProducts = array_merge($allProducts, $products);
}
?>

Rate Limiting

WooCommerce enforces a default rate limit of 15 requests per 15 seconds. Exceeding this returns HTTP 429. Implement exponential backoff:

<?php
function makeRequestWithBackoff($url, $maxRetries = 3) {
    $retries = 0;
    while ($retries < $maxRetries) {
        $response = wp_remote_get($url);
        $status = wp_remote_retrieve_response_code($response);
        
        if ($status === 429) {
            $wait = pow(2, $retries) * 1000000; // microseconds
            usleep($wait);
            $retries++;
        } else {
            return $response;
        }
    }
    return false;
}
?>

Common Mistakes and Limits

• Per-page limit: Setting per_page>100 silently truncates to 100. Always check X-WP-Total header to verify completeness.
• SSL requirement: Modern WooCommerce rejects HTTP endpoints. Ensure valid SSL certificate.
• Version mismatch: WooCommerce 3.0+ uses v3; older versions require v2/v1 endpoints with different response formats.
• Credential exposure: Never commit consumer keys to version control. Use environment variables or secure vaults.

Verification Steps

1. Test authentication: A valid request returns HTTP 200 with JSON product array
2. Check pagination headers: Verify X-WP-Total and X-WP-TotalPages are present
3. Validate rate limiting: Send 20 rapid requests; expect 429 after 15th
4. Inspect product schema: Confirm response contains expected fields like id, name, price, stock_status

Product Data Structure

Each product object includes:

• id: Unique product identifier
• name: Product title
• price: Product price as string
• stock_status: "instock" or "outofstock"
• meta_data: Array of custom fields

Limitations

• Maximum 100 items per request
• Rate limits may vary by server configuration
• Custom fields in meta_data require additional processing
• API v3 requires WooCommerce 3.0+