Introduction to Forage
Everything you need to understand the EBT ecosystem, navigate the Forage partnership process, and choose the right integration.
Forage develops software tools and shares regulatory expertise for launching and growing online and in-person EBT SNAP and EBT Cash payments. This guide covers everything you need to understand the EBT ecosystem, navigate the Forage partnership process, and select the right integration approach for your platform.
Audience
Developers and product teams assessing or starting a Forage integration. No previous knowledge of EBT payments or FNS regulations is required.
Prerequisites
You need a Forage account before you can start building. See Sign Up for Forage to get one. Before starting the process, confirm you meet the technical and eligibility prerequisites.
What's in this guide
- EBT Payments 101. Offers background on the EBT ecosystem: key industry players, how payment methods operate, and the differences between SNAP and EBT Cash. Read this before implementation.
- How Forage Works. An overview of the six-phase Forage partnership process, from FNS authorization to launch and growth.
- Integration Options. A decision guide for choosing between Fully Hosted Checkout, Custom Checkout, online-only SDKs, and the POS Terminal SDK, based on how you want to handle Split Tender.
- EBT Standards and Integration Reference. A lookup guide covering merchant prerequisites, item eligibility tagging requirements, FNS-compliant customer-facing terminology, SDK version compatibility, and a detailed comparison of integration features.
Updated 28 days ago