SeatLayer Python Server SDK for Reserved Seating

The official SeatLayer Python server SDK — the trusted side of a reserved-seating integration. Inspect what a hold really contains, price from server-owned seating-chart data, and book with a stable booking_ref, while managing charts, events, inventory, allocations, and webhooks through one typed ticketing API client.

seatlayer on PyPI · SeatLayer server SDK documentation · SeatLayer reserved-seating platform · SeatLayer JavaScript seat map SDK · Server API reference

Server-side only. This package authenticates with your secret key. Never run it anywhere a ticket buyer can reach — browser surfaces get short-lived, origin-bound tokens that you mint here.

Install

pip install seatlayer

Requires Python 3.10 or newer. No runtime dependencies.

Quick start

import os
from seatlayer import SeatLayer

seatlayer = SeatLayer(os.environ["SEATLAYER_SECRET_KEY"])

# 1. Provision a venue from the public template catalog as a new draft chart.
chart = seatlayer.templates.instantiate_template("tpl_arena")["meta"]
seatlayer.charts.publish(chart["id"])

# 2. Create an event on it.
event = seatlayer.events.create(chart_id=chart["id"], name="Spring Gala")["meta"]

# 3. Sell four seats over the phone.
held = seatlayer.inventory.hold_best_available(event["key"], qty=4)
# … take payment against held["items"], which carry authoritative prices …
seatlayer.inventory.book(event["key"], hold_id=held["holdId"], booking_ref="order-8842")

Nullable event-create fields distinguish omission from an explicit reset: passing, for example, venue=None sends JSON null; leaving venue out sends no field.

Test vs live

Keys carry their own mode. sk_test_… keys can only touch test-mode events and sk_live_… only live ones; crossing them returns 403 mode_mismatch, surfaced as SeatLayerAuthError with is_mode_mismatch.

seatlayer = SeatLayer(os.environ["SEATLAYER_SECRET_KEY"])
if os.environ.get("ENV") == "production" and seatlayer.mode != "live":
    raise RuntimeError("Refusing to boot production against test-mode seating data.")

The two selling flows

Buyer picks seats in the browser. Your frontend holds them; your backend confirms the price and books. Never price from what the browser sent you — retrieve_hold is authoritative.

hold = seatlayer.inventory.retrieve_hold(event_key, hold_id)
total = sum(item["unitPrice"] for item in hold["items"])
# … charge `total` in hold["currency"] …
seatlayer.inventory.book(event_key, hold_id=hold_id, booking_ref=charge.id)

Your backend picks the seats. Phone orders, box office, comps.

# Payment already taken — book outright, so nothing is stranded if a second call fails.
seatlayer.inventory.book_best_available(event_key, qty=2, booking_ref="phone-1183")

# Or name the seats yourself.
seatlayer.inventory.box_office_book(event_key, labels=["A-1", "A-2"], booking_ref="comp-14")

Private and partner sales

Channels split event inventory into explicit allocations. A channel id is reporting/routing metadata, not browser authority. Authenticate the buyer in your backend and mint a short-lived token restricted to the event, origin, and allowed allocations:

access = seatlayer.channels.create_buyer_access_session(
    event_key,
    channel_ids=["chn_partner_a"],
    include_public=False,
    allowed_origin="https://tickets.example",
)
# Return access["token"] to the in-memory buyerAccessTokenProvider only.

Never log or persist the returned bse_… bearer. Allocation setup, previews, pause/archive controls, audit-safe session listing, and channel reports are on seatlayer.channels.

Listing and pagination

list() returns one page plus a nextCursor. When you want everything, list_all() pages for you and yields as it goes — a generator rather than a list, because the point of paginating is to not hold an unbounded result set in memory.

# One page, your own paging.
page = seatlayer.events.list(limit=50)
page["events"]
page.get("nextCursor")   # absent once exhausted

# Or let the SDK walk it.
for event in seatlayer.events.list_all():
    sync(event)

Listing events includes live availability counts by default, which costs the server one round-trip per event. list_all() turns them off automatically — walking a whole catalogue is exactly when you don't want that — and you can control it explicitly:

seatlayer.events.list(limit=50, counts=False)

Keeping a hold alive

When an order takes longer than the checkout window — an invoice, a phone sale — extend rather than release and re-hold. Releasing first hands the seats to whoever is racing for them in between.

from seatlayer import SeatLayerConflictError

try:
    seatlayer.inventory.extend_hold(event_key, hold_id, ttl_ms=10 * 60_000)
except SeatLayerConflictError:
    # Gone, expired, or at its renewal cap — the buyer has to re-pick.
    ...

Embedding the control room

Your secret key never reaches a browser. Mint a scoped token instead.

session = seatlayer.sessions.create_manage_session(
    event_key,
    allowed_origin="https://box-office.yourplatform.com",
    capabilities=["event:view", "event:block"],
    expires_in_seconds=3600,
)

capabilities is required by this SDK even though the raw API safely defaults an omitted list to view-only (event:view). Keeping the argument required makes browser authority visible at every call site. Grant the smallest set the page needs.

The full set, all opt-in:

Capability	Grants
event:view	Read the seat map and its live states
event:block	Block and unblock seats
event:cancel	Unbook paid seats and issue gateway refunds — destructive, moves money
event:reports	Read sales and availability reports
event:channels:view	Read sales channels and their allocations
event:channels:manage	Create, pause and archive channels; rotate access links
event:orders:read	Read SeatLayer-managed orders
event:refund	Refund a SeatLayer-managed order
event:tickets:send	Send SeatLayer-managed tickets
event:door:view	Read the door list
event:door:checkin	Check tickets in and out
event:boxoffice	Use the managed box-office surface

The two event:channels:* capabilities are not in the default — a token minted before sales channels existed must not silently acquire channel authority — so ask for them explicitly if the page manages channels.

The same pattern embeds the Designer in your own UI:

chart = seatlayer.charts.create(name="Riverside Theatre")["meta"]
designer = seatlayer.sessions.create_designer_session(
    workspace_id=workspace_id,
    chart_id=chart["id"],
    allowed_origin="https://app.yourplatform.com",
    authority="edit",
)
# The API response is an envelope; hand designer["session"]["token"] to the embed.

For safe-mode embeds, pass mode="safe" with safe_mode_options; feature policy is passed with features and the returned settings live under designer["session"].

Webhooks

Subscription responses use the API envelopes exactly: list() returns {"subs": [...]}, create() returns {"sub": ..., "secret": ...} (the secret is shown once), and update() returns {"sub": ...}. Supported event names are seat.booked, seat.released, seat.blocked, hold.expired, hold.created, hold.extended, event.created, and event.soldout.

Verify every delivery against the raw body. Re-serialising it changes the bytes and verification will fail.

from flask import request
from seatlayer import verify_webhook, WebhookVerificationError

@app.post("/webhooks/seatlayer")
def seatlayer_webhook():
    try:
        event = verify_webhook(
            request.get_data(),                                 # raw bytes, not request.json
            request.headers.get("X-SeatLayer-Signature"),
            os.environ["SEATLAYER_WEBHOOK_SECRET"],
        )
    except WebhookVerificationError:
        return "", 400

    # The signed body carries `at`, but nothing enforces a freshness window, so
    # a captured delivery stays valid indefinitely. Deduplicate on occurrenceId —
    # this is your replay protection, not an optimisation.
    if already_processed(event["occurrenceId"]):
        return "", 200

    handle(event)
    return "", 200

Errors

from seatlayer import SeatLayerAuthError, SeatLayerConflictError, SeatLayerRateLimitError

try:
    seatlayer.inventory.hold_best_available(event_key, qty=6)
except SeatLayerConflictError as error:
    if error.is_sold_out:
        return show_alternative_dates()      # a business outcome, not a bug
    raise
except SeatLayerRateLimitError as error:
    return retry_after(error.retry_after_seconds)
except SeatLayerAuthError as error:
    if error.is_mode_mismatch:
        raise RuntimeError("Test key pointed at a live event (or the reverse.)") from error
    raise

Every error carries status, code, body, and request_id — quote the request id in support requests.

Reliability

Retries and idempotency. Reads retry 408, 429 and 5xx responses with backoff. Only chart create, chart copy, template instantiation, event create and workspace create opt into mutation retries: the SDK generates one Idempotency-Key and reuses it for every attempt. All other mutations are single-attempt, even if you supply a key.

Booking safety. Direct and box-office bookings have the server's exact-selection plus booking_ref safeguard, but the SDK still sends them once. Holds, best-available operations, show-once secret creation and raw mutations are also single-attempt; reconcile an unknown outcome before trying again.

SeatLayer(
    os.environ["SEATLAYER_SECRET_KEY"],
    max_retries=3,   # attempts for reads and the five replay-safe creates
    timeout=30.0,    # seconds, per attempt
)

Escape hatch

For surface this SDK does not wrap yet. Raw reads retain retries; raw mutations are single-attempt because the SDK cannot prove that an unknown operation supports exact replay:

seatlayer.request("POST", "/v1/events/ev_1/some-new-route", body={...})

API surface

Resource	Methods
charts	list list_all create retrieve update delete copy archive unarchive publish
templates	instantiate_template
events	list list_all create retrieve retrieve_configuration_binding update_configuration_binding update delete update_poster delete_poster update_chart close reopen archive list_ticket_releases update_ticket_releases close_ticket_release retrieve_hold_ttl update_hold_ttl retrieve_report retrieve_log
inventory	hold hold_best_available book_best_available extend_hold retrieve_hold release book box_office_book unbook list_bookings retrieve_booking block unblock unblock_all retrieve_availability update_availability
channels	list_channels create_channel update_channel update_assignments list_allocation retrieve_access_preview retrieve_report pause unpause archive create_buyer_access_session list_buyer_access_sessions revoke_buyer_access_session create_access_link list_access_links rotate_access_link revoke_access_link
sessions	create_manage_session revoke_manage_session create_designer_session revoke_designer_session
webhooks	list create update delete list_deliveries
workspaces	list create retrieve update

Full reference: SeatLayer server API events

Deliberately not in this SDK

Some API surface is intentionally unwrapped, not merely pending:

• Hosted-checkout orders and refunds. Reading or refunding a SeatLayer-hosted-checkout sale is not a server-SDK capability. Those records only exist for organisations using hosted checkout; if you run your own commerce store you refund in that store, through your own gateway.
• Connecting or assigning payment gateways. Connecting one is a dashboard flow, so shipping only the assignment half across seven SDKs would hand you a method that cannot yet succeed.
• Realtime seat updates. Live seat state reaches the browser through the widget's own socket. There is no server-side subscribe; a secret-key caller gets authoritative state from events.retrieve_report() and inventory.retrieve_availability().

None of these are reachable through request() as a supported path either — they are excluded from the public manifest, not just from the wrapper.

Frequently asked questions

How do I book seats from Python?

Create a client with your secret key, obtain a hold id — either from the buyer's browser session or by holding server-side — and call inventory.book(event_key, hold_id=..., booking_ref=...). booking_ref is your own stable order id and is the join between SeatLayer inventory and your commercial order, so the same reference identifies the booking in Booking History and when you later cancel it. For phone orders, box office, and comps, inventory.book_best_available books outright with no browser involved.

What does the server SDK do compared with the buyer SDK?

The buyer SDK runs where the ticket buyer is: it renders the interactive seating chart, handles seat selection, and creates temporary holds. This server SDK is the trusted side. It authenticates with your secret key, inspects what a hold actually contains, prices from server-owned data, and books. Never bundle the secret key into a browser or a mobile app — browser surfaces get short-lived, origin-bound tokens that you mint here.

How do temporary holds work server-side?

A hold reserves seats against concurrent buyers for a limited window. inventory.retrieve_hold(event_key, hold_id) is the authoritative answer for what is held and at what price, so charge from its items rather than from anything the browser sent you. When an order runs longer than the checkout window, inventory.extend_hold renews the hold instead of releasing and re-holding, which would hand the seats to whoever is racing for them. Bookings carry the server's exact-selection plus booking_ref safeguard, but the SDK sends each booking once — reconcile an unknown outcome before trying again.

Can I use my own payment provider?

Yes. SeatLayer never processes payment. Inspect the hold, compute the charge from the returned items and their authoritative unitPrice and currency, take the money through whichever provider you already use — Stripe, Adyen, Razorpay, or your own — and then book the hold with your order id as booking_ref. SeatLayer owns seating state, holds, booking concurrency, and the inventory ledger; your platform owns payments, commercial orders, tickets, delivery, and refunds.

Continue your Python integration

• Follow the SeatLayer server SDK guide for installation, authentication, and the full hold-to-booking flow.
• Handle errors, retries, and safe booking repeats before connecting a production order flow.
• Verify SeatLayer webhooks to react to holds, expiry, and bookings on your server.
• Browse the SeatLayer server API reference for every endpoint behind this SDK.
• Generate clients from the SeatLayer OpenAPI description or explore the raw API surface.
• Point AI coding agents at the SeatLayer docs index (llms.txt) for an agent-readable map of the documentation.
• Explore every SeatLayer SDK on GitHub across web, mobile, and server.

Other SeatLayer SDKs

Surface	Package or source
JavaScript	@seatlayer/js
React	@seatlayer/react
React Native	@seatlayer/react-native
iOS	seatlayer-ios
Flutter	seatlayer
Android	seatlayer-android
Node.js (server)	@seatlayer/server
Python (server)	seatlayer (this package)
PHP (server)	seatlayer/seatlayer-php
Ruby (server)	seatlayer
.NET (server)	SeatLayer
Java (server)	io.seatlayer:seatlayer-java
Go (server)	github.com/seatlayer/seatlayer-go

Development

pip install -e ".[dev]"
ruff check src tests && mypy && pytest -q

License

MIT