usesmileid

Official Smile ID server-side SDK for Python — V3 APIs.

This project is under active development. It is not yet published to PyPI, and the API is not stable. Do not use it in production yet.

The package and the importable module are both named usesmileid. Python 3.8 or later is required.

Install

pip install usesmileid

Getting started

Construct one client with your partner ID and API key. The SDK manages authentication for you: it fetches a short-lived token from the Smile ID API, caches it until it expires, and refreshes it automatically. You never handle tokens yourself.

import os

import usesmileid

smile = usesmileid.Client(
    partner_id="1234",
    api_key=os.environ["SMILE_API_KEY"],
    environment="sandbox",  # the default
)

Partner IDs are displayed zero-padded in the portal (for example 002) but must be passed without leading zeros (2).

Environment selection

The client targets the sandbox by default. Set environment="production" to go live:

• sandbox → https://testapi.smileidentity.com
• production → https://api.smileidentity.com

Base URL override

Only sandbox and production are named environments. To reach any other Smile ID environment, pass base_url — it wins over environment:

smile = usesmileid.Client(
    partner_id="2",
    api_key=os.environ["SMILE_API_KEY"],
    base_url="https://your-environment.example.com",
)

The value must be an absolute https URL with no query or fragment — anything else raises usesmileid.errors.ValidationError at construction. There is deliberately no way to turn this off: partner credentials and personal data travel on every request. environment must be "sandbox" or "production"; any other value is rejected at construction.

Callback URLs

Callback URLs must also be https. The SDK validates default_callback_url when you construct the client, and any per-request callback_url before it sends the request.

Other options

Binary inputs

Every image parameter (selfie_image, liveness_images, document, document_back, comparison_image) accepts a file path (str or os.PathLike), raw bytes, or an open file object.

Consent and user details

All verification submissions need a consent record and the user's details. Build consent with the helper; pass user details as a dict or a usesmileid.UserDetails. At least one of email or phone_number is required — the SDK checks this before sending.

from datetime import datetime, timezone

consent = usesmileid.Consent.granted(
    granted_at=datetime.now(timezone.utc),
    notice_language="EN",
    notice_privacy_policy_url="https://example.com/privacy",
)
user_details = {
    "given_names": "Amina Fatou",
    "last_name": "Clearwater",
    "email": "amina.clearwater@example.com",
}

Non-production environments match test identities on given names, last name and email. An identity they do not recognise resolves to block.

The examples below assume smile, consent and user_details are defined as above.

Methods

Enhanced KYC

Verify an ID number against the issuing authority.

accepted = smile.enhanced_kyc.verify(
    country="NG",
    id_type="NIN",
    id_number="12345678901",
    user_details=user_details,
    consent=consent,
)
print(accepted.job_id, accepted.is_accepted)

Document verification

Verify a selfie against a photo of an identity document. id_type is optional; the document type is auto-classified when omitted.

accepted = smile.documents.verify(
    selfie_image="selfie.jpg",
    liveness_images=["live1.jpg", "live2.jpg", "live3.jpg",
                     "live4.jpg", "live5.jpg", "live6.jpg"],
    document="passport_front.jpg",
    country="NG",
    user_details=user_details,
    consent=consent,
)

Enhanced document verification

Same as document verification, but id_type is required and the ID information is also checked against the issuing authority.

accepted = smile.documents.verify_enhanced(
    selfie_image="selfie.jpg",
    liveness_images=["live1.jpg", "live2.jpg", "live3.jpg",
                     "live4.jpg", "live5.jpg", "live6.jpg"],
    document="license_front.jpg",
    document_back="license_back.jpg",
    country="NG",
    id_type="DRIVERS_LICENSE",
    user_details=user_details,
    consent=consent,
)

Residency document verification

Same as document verification, plus the visa endorsed in the passport. visa is required and id_type must be PASSPORT (the default). Results take longer than document verification, so rely on the callback rather than polling.

accepted = smile.documents.verify_residency(
    selfie_image="selfie.jpg",
    liveness_images=["live1.jpg", "live2.jpg", "live3.jpg",
                     "live4.jpg", "live5.jpg", "live6.jpg"],
    document="passport_front.jpg",
    visa="visa_page.jpg",
    country="ZA",
    user_details=user_details,
    consent=consent,
)

Biometric KYC

Verify a selfie against the photo on file with an ID authority.

accepted = smile.biometric_kyc.verify(
    selfie_image="selfie.jpg",
    liveness_images=["live1.jpg", "live2.jpg", "live3.jpg",
                     "live4.jpg", "live5.jpg", "live6.jpg"],
    country="NG",
    id_type="NIN",
    id_number="12345678901",
    user_details=user_details,
    consent=consent,
)

Biometric enrollment

Register a user's selfie for later authentication.

accepted = smile.biometric.enroll(
    selfie_image="selfie.jpg",
    liveness_images=["live1.jpg", "live2.jpg", "live3.jpg",
                     "live4.jpg", "live5.jpg", "live6.jpg"],
    user_details=user_details,
    consent=consent,
    user_id="user_01h8x9y2z3a4b5c6d7e8f9g0h1",
)

Biometric authentication

Authenticate a previously enrolled user. Set use_enrolled_image=True to re-use the enrolled image instead of uploading a new selfie.

accepted = smile.biometric.authenticate(
    user_id="user_01h8x9y2z3a4b5c6d7e8f9g0h1",
    selfie_image="selfie.jpg",
    liveness_images=["live1.jpg", "live2.jpg", "live3.jpg",
                     "live4.jpg", "live5.jpg", "live6.jpg"],
    user_details=user_details,
    consent=consent,
)

Selfie comparison

Compare a selfie against another image (a document photo, ID photo or portrait).

accepted = smile.biometric.compare(
    selfie_image="selfie.jpg",
    comparison_image="id_photo.jpg",
    comparison_image_type="ID_PHOTO",  # DOCUMENT | ID_PHOTO | PORTRAIT
    user_details=user_details,
    consent=consent,
)

Check a verification's status

status = smile.verifications.retrieve("job_01h8x9y2z3a4b5c6d7e8f9g0h1")
print(status.status)  # "processing", "not_found", or the decision

A running job reports status="processing". Once it finishes, status is the decision itself: clear, block, attention or error. message reads "Job completed" on every finished job, so read the decision from status, not from message.

A job that is not found returns a JobStatus with status="not_found" — it does not raise an error, so polling can distinguish "not found yet" cleanly.

Wait for a verification to complete

Polls the status endpoint while the job is processing or not_found, and returns as soon as it reaches a decision. status.is_complete is true for any decision. Raises usesmileid.errors.TimeoutError if the job does not finish in time.

status = smile.verifications.wait_until_complete(
    "job_01h8x9y2z3a4b5c6d7e8f9g0h1",
    interval=2.0,   # seconds between polls
    timeout=60.0,   # give up after this many seconds
)
print(status.status)  # "clear"

By default a not_found status is treated as "not found yet" and polling continues; pass treat_not_found_as_pending=False to return it immediately.

Replay a callback

Re-send the callback for a completed verification.

replayed = smile.verifications.replay(
    "job_01h8x9y2z3a4b5c6d7e8f9g0h1",
    callback_url="https://app.example.com/webhook",  # optional override
)

Replaying a job that is still processing raises usesmileid.errors.ConflictError.

Report user fraud

Flag a user as fraudulent, or clear a previous flag. flag_fraud and clear_fraud are convenience wrappers over report_fraud.

smile.users.flag_fraud(
    "user_01h8x9y2z3a4b5c6d7e8f9g0h1",
    reason="FIRST_PARTY_FRAUD",
    reported_by="risk@example.com",
)

smile.users.clear_fraud(
    "user_01h8x9y2z3a4b5c6d7e8f9g0h1",
    notes="Cleared after review",
    reported_by="risk@example.com",
)

reason is required when flagging; notes is required when clearing or when reason="OTHER". The SDK checks these rules before sending.

List bank codes

No authentication required.

banks = smile.services.bank_codes(country="NG")
for bank in banks.bank_codes:
    print(bank.code, bank.name)

List supported ID types

No authentication required.

id_types = smile.services.supported_id_types(country="NG")
for id_type in id_types.id_types:
    print(id_type.type, id_type.label)

List supported documents

No authentication required.

documents = smile.services.supported_documents(country_code="NG")
for entry in documents.valid_documents:
    print(entry.country.name, [d.code for d in entry.id_types])

Check ID type availability

status = smile.services.id_status(country="NG", id_type="NIN")
print(status.last_known_status, status.last_hour_success_rate)

Responses

Submission endpoints return an AcceptedResponse. Use response.is_accepted rather than comparing the raw status string — the API returns both "Accepted" and "accepted" depending on the endpoint, and is_accepted normalizes the difference.

Error handling

All errors raised by the SDK subclass usesmileid.errors.SmileIDError and expose status_code, status, message, code, request_id and raw_body.

import usesmileid.errors

try:
    accepted = smile.enhanced_kyc.verify(...)
except usesmileid.errors.PaymentRequiredError:
    ...  # top up your wallet
except usesmileid.errors.InvalidRequestError as err:
    print(err.status_code, err.message)
except usesmileid.errors.SmileIDError as err:
    ...  # everything else

Retries

The SDK automatically retries idempotent operations only: status and services reads, and the internal token fetch. Retries cover connection errors and HTTP 408, 429 and 5xx, with exponential backoff, and honour the Retry-After header. HTTP 409 is never retried.

Submission calls (verification, enrollment, authentication, compare, replay, fraud reports) are never retried automatically, because a retry could create a duplicate job. A connection failure on these raises usesmileid.errors.ConnectionError and you decide whether to retry.

Telemetry

Every request carries three telemetry headers: SmileID-Source-SDK, SmileID-Source-SDK-Version and User-Agent. They identify the SDK and its version for observability. They are never used for authentication and carry no personal data.

Licence

This project is licensed under the MIT licence. See LICENSE for details.

Security

See SECURITY.md for how to report a vulnerability.