Up until now, I've had no reason to get certified to use the Metrc API anywhere outside of Oregon.
However, I have some friends in Michigan who are going through the licensing process and want to leverage the API, so I plan on helping them get through certification (whenever training and evaluations are available). Partially to refresh my memory on what's involved in getting certified, partially because one of the local processors I work with has expanded, and partially because I couldn't think of a reason NOT to, I decided to go through testing for Nevada. At the same time, I started the process for California too.
Fortunately, Nevada doesn't require going through training for vendors who have already completed it in other states. California does require it (at least right now). Michigan is still concentrating on getting licensees up and running, so it's unclear on what will be required for third party integrators. I'm sure they'll all require passing the evaluation test, regardless of certification status in other states.
The Nevada evaluation was done in the Colorado sandbox. I ran into some issues with sales endpoints which may have been differences between Nevada and Colorado feature sets, but after contacting Metrc, I was provided with a workaround which let me complete that section. So, now I'm certified in Oregon and Nevada. Besides California and Michigan, I don't really have plans to get certified in other states, but I may change those plans in time.
As I wait for additional testing to be available, I've decided to revisit some of the code I've written for the Cannabis industry and share it. One of the biggest surprises developers discover when first working with the Metrc API is the responses for POST calls. When you create something, you might expect the API to return the newly created object. Or at least the id of the object. But sadly, that's not what you get. A response code of 200 and an "OK" signals success, but doesn't really help you produce a meaningful user experience. So, after posting, you end up having to GET the active objects and fishing for what you just created.
Every vendor has had to reinvent this POST/GET dance, and while they may want to keep theirs tightly guarded, I've decided to share mine. I believe it's the first open source library for the Metrc API. Covering mostly Processor related functionality, I'll build out other parts as time allows. Since it's open source, it's absolutely free for anyone to use, copy, change, sell . . . whatever. Of course, without Metrc API production and user keys it's useless, but licensees and third party integrators can use the project to jump start their own creations.
