Create and distribute tip pools

Tip pools let you collect tips from multiple transactions and distribute them among a group of eligible employees at the end of a shift or period. Centsless supports three distribution methods: equal split, weighted by contribution, and proportional to hours worked. All pool operations are recorded in the audit trail.

Authentication

All requests require an x-api-key header.

POST /tip/pool/create — Create a tip pool

Create a new tip pool from a set of recorded tips and define how the total will be distributed among participants.

POST https://api.centsless.org/api/v1/tip/pool/create

Request body

string

required

A name for this tip pool. Example: Sunday Lunch Pool

array

required

An array of tip IDs to include in the pool.

["TIP-00123", "TIP-00124", "TIP-00125"]

string

required

How the pooled total will be split among participants. One of: equal, weighted, hours_based

array

required

An array of employees eligible to receive a share. Each entry requires employeeId and employeeName.

[
  { "employeeId": "EMP-001", "employeeName": "Jordan Smith" },
  { "employeeId": "EMP-002", "employeeName": "Alex Rivera" }
]

Code example

curl -X POST https://api.centsless.org/api/v1/tip/pool/create \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "pool_name": "Sunday Lunch Pool",
    "tip_ids": ["TIP-00123", "TIP-00124", "TIP-00125"],
    "distribution_method": "equal",
    "participants": [
      { "employeeId": "EMP-001", "employeeName": "Jordan Smith" },
      { "employeeId": "EMP-002", "employeeName": "Alex Rivera" }
    ]
  }'

POST /tip/pool/distribute — Distribute a tip pool

Trigger distribution of a previously created tip pool. The engine calculates each participant’s share using the distribution method defined at pool creation and records individual payouts in the audit trail.

POST https://api.centsless.org/api/v1/tip/pool/distribute

Request body

string

required

The ID of the tip pool to distribute. Returned when the pool was created.

Code example

curl -X POST https://api.centsless.org/api/v1/tip/pool/distribute \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "pool_id": "POOL-00042"
  }'

The response includes each participant’s calculated share and the total distributed. Any fractional cents are rounded in the employees’ favor (FLSA ceiling rounding).

Overview

Transactions

Jurisdiction

Tipping

Compliance & Audit

Create and distribute tip pools

Authentication

POST /tip/pool/create — Create a tip pool

Request body

Code example

POST /tip/pool/distribute — Distribute a tip pool

Request body

Code example

​Authentication

​POST /tip/pool/create — Create a tip pool

​Request body

​Code example

​POST /tip/pool/distribute — Distribute a tip pool

​Request body

​Code example

Authentication

POST /tip/pool/create — Create a tip pool

Request body

Code example

POST /tip/pool/distribute — Distribute a tip pool

Request body

Code example