> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ionicfi.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cancel a payment intent

> Requests cancellation for an intent that has not been captured. Most
non-terminal states become `canceled` immediately; a `requires_capture`
intent first voids its authorized charge. A `processing` intent can
remain `processing` while its in-flight outcome resolves, so poll the
intent or consume webhooks for its next state. The body is optional; an
absent body supplies no reason.




## OpenAPI

````yaml /openapi/payments.yaml post /payment_intents/{id}/cancel
openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: Ionic Payments API
  version: '2026-05-01'
  description: |
    Payment intents, charges, and refunds — the money-movement core.

    A payment intent (`pi_…`) tracks one payment. Create it with an amount and
    currency, then confirm it with a payment method or one-time payment token.
    Each confirmation creates a Charge; after a decline, confirm the same
    PaymentIntent again with a different payment method. With
    `capture_method: automatic` (the default) a successful
    confirmation captures immediately; with `manual` it authorizes, and you
    capture later. A Charge (`ch_…`) records one confirmation attempt, and
    `latest_charge_id` points to the most recent one. A Refund (`rf_…`) returns
    captured funds from a Charge.

    All monetary amounts are integers in the currency's minor unit (for example
    cents for USD). Timestamps are Unix epoch seconds. Identifiers are opaque,
    prefixed strings.

    Authentication uses a merchant secret key (`sk_…`) as a bearer token. Read
    endpoints require the `payments:read` permission; write endpoints require
    `payments:write`. The mode of the key (test or live) scopes which resources
    it can see and mutate, and is reflected by each resource's `livemode` field.
    Confirming and retrieving an intent additionally accept a publishable key
    (`pk_…`) together with the intent's `client_secret`, for client-side flows;
    every other endpoint is secret-key only. Send an `Idempotency-Key` header on
    create, confirm, capture, and cancel so retries do not duplicate an
    operation.

    Errors are returned as `{ "error": { "code": "...", "message": "..." } }`.
    Payment-specific failures carry extra fields: a card decline returns `402`
    with `type: card_error`, a `decline_code`, a `decline_type`, and a
    `retryable` flag, and embeds the current payment intent so you can inspect
    its status without a second call.
servers:
  - url: '{baseUrl}/v1'
    variables:
      baseUrl:
        default: https://api.ionicfi.com
        description: API base URL for your environment.
security:
  - secretKey: []
tags:
  - name: Payment Intents
    description: Create, confirm, capture, and cancel attempts to collect money.
  - name: Charges
    description: Records of individual PaymentIntent confirmation attempts.
  - name: Refunds
    description: Reversals of captured funds on a charge.
paths:
  /payment_intents/{id}/cancel:
    parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/PaymentIntentId'
    post:
      tags:
        - Payment Intents
      summary: Cancel a payment intent
      description: |
        Requests cancellation for an intent that has not been captured. Most
        non-terminal states become `canceled` immediately; a `requires_capture`
        intent first voids its authorized charge. A `processing` intent can
        remain `processing` while its in-flight outcome resolves, so poll the
        intent or consume webhooks for its next state. The body is optional; an
        absent body supplies no reason.
      operationId: payment_intents_cancel
      parameters:
        - $ref: '#/components/parameters/IdempotencyKey'
      requestBody:
        required: false
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              $ref: '#/components/schemas/CancelPaymentIntentRequest'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: >-
            The updated payment intent. It can remain `processing` while
            cancellation is pending; otherwise its status is `canceled`.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntent'
        '400':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
        '403':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
        '404':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/PaymentIntentNotFound'
        '422':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/InvalidPaymentIntentState'
        '429':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
        '500':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/InternalError'
      security:
        - secretKey:
            - payments:write
components:
  parameters:
    PaymentIntentId:
      name: id
      in: path
      required: true
      description: The payment intent id (`pi_…`).
      schema:
        type: string
    IdempotencyKey:
      name: Idempotency-Key
      in: header
      required: false
      description: >-
        A unique key that makes retries safe: the same key with the same request
        body returns the original response instead of repeating the operation.
      schema:
        type: string
        maxLength: 255
  schemas:
    CancelPaymentIntentRequest:
      type: object
      properties:
        reason:
          type: string
          description: Optional cancellation reason (max 256 chars).
    PaymentIntent:
      type: object
      required:
        - amount
        - capture_method
        - client_secret
        - created_at
        - currency
        - customer
        - id
        - latest_charge_id
        - livemode
        - merchant_id
        - metadata
        - object
        - payment_method
        - status
        - updated_at
      properties:
        id:
          type: string
          description: The payment intent id (`pi_…`).
        object:
          type: string
          enum:
            - payment_intent
          description: Always `payment_intent`.
        merchant_id:
          type: string
          description: The owning merchant (`mer_…`).
        livemode:
          type: boolean
          description: >-
            Whether this intent was created with a live (`true`) or test
            (`false`) key.
        client_secret:
          type: string
          nullable: true
          description: >-
            Returned when the intent is created or confirmed; null on capture,
            cancel, and list responses.
        tokenization:
          allOf:
            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/TokenizationConfig'
          nullable: true
          description: >-
            Browser-safe card-fields configuration returned with `client_secret`
            on publishable-key requests. Null when card collection is not
            available.
        customer:
          type: string
          nullable: true
          description: >-
            The attached customer (`cus_…`). Null unless a customer was passed
            at creation.
        amount:
          type: integer
          description: The amount to collect, in minor units. Always positive.
        currency:
          type: string
          description: Three-letter ISO currency code. USD, EUR, and GBP are supported.
        capture_method:
          type: string
          enum:
            - automatic
            - manual
          description: >-
            `automatic` captures the charge on confirmation. `manual` authorizes
            a hold; capture it later via `POST /payment_intents/{id}/capture`.
        status:
          type: string
          enum:
            - requires_payment_method
            - requires_confirmation
            - requires_action
            - requires_capture
            - processing
            - succeeded
            - canceled
          description: >-
            One of `requires_payment_method` (collect or attach a payment
            method), `requires_confirmation` (ready to confirm), `processing`
            (payment is in progress), `requires_action` (the buyer must complete
            another step), `requires_capture` (authorized and awaiting manual
            capture), `succeeded` (payment completed), or `canceled` (payment
            can no longer be completed).
        payment_method:
          type: string
          nullable: true
          description: >-
            The attached payment method (`pm_…`). Nullable; cleared on a decline
            so a retry can attach a different method.
        latest_charge_id:
          type: string
          nullable: true
          description: The most recent charge produced by this intent (`ch_…`).
        reference:
          type: string
          description: Your order number or other reference. Max 256 characters.
        metadata:
          type: object
          additionalProperties:
            type: string
          description: >-
            A string key-value map for storing your own structured data. Up to
            50 keys; each key at most 40 characters and each value at most 500
            characters.
        created_at:
          type: integer
          description: Unix epoch seconds.
        updated_at:
          type: integer
          description: Unix epoch seconds, bumped on every mutation.
    TokenizationConfig:
      type: object
      description: Browser-safe configuration for initializing hosted card fields.
      required:
        - provider
        - tokenization_key
      properties:
        provider:
          type: string
          description: >-
            Reserved for the Ionic browser SDK. Do not inspect or configure this
            value.
        tokenization_key:
          type: string
          description: >-
            A browser-safe public key used to create a one-time payment token.
            It cannot submit a charge.
    Error:
      type: object
      properties:
        error:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorDetail'
    ErrorDetail:
      type: object
      required:
        - code
        - message
      properties:
        code:
          type: string
        message:
          type: string
        type:
          type: string
          enum:
            - card_error
            - invalid_request_error
            - api_error
        decline_code:
          type: string
        decline_type:
          type: string
          enum:
            - authorization
            - authentication
            - infrastructure
        retryable:
          type: boolean
          description: >-
            Whether the underlying condition may resolve on its own over time —
            for example available funds being deposited or a velocity window
            resetting. `true` does not mean the request is safe to retry
            immediately.
        doc_url:
          type: string
  responses:
    BadRequest:
      description: The request was malformed or failed validation.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
          example:
            error:
              code: INVALID_REQUEST
              message: invalid currency
    Unauthorized:
      description: Missing or invalid API key.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
    Forbidden:
      description: The key lacks the required permission, or the merchant is not active.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
    PaymentIntentNotFound:
      description: No payment intent with that id is visible to this key.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
          example:
            error:
              code: PAYMENT_INTENT_NOT_FOUND
              message: payment intent not found
    InvalidPaymentIntentState:
      description: The operation is not allowed in the intent's current state.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
          example:
            error:
              code: INVALID_STATE
              message: payment intent cannot be captured in its current state
    RateLimited:
      description: Too many requests. Honour the `Retry-After` header before retrying.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
    InternalError:
      description: |
        The API could not return a successful response. For a mutating request,
        retrieve the resource before retrying because the operation may have
        completed.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
  securitySchemes:
    secretKey:
      type: http
      scheme: bearer
      description: 'A merchant secret key (`sk_…`) sent as `Authorization: Bearer <key>`.'

````