Order code signing certificate
POST https://www.digicert.com/services/v2/order/certificate/{{code_signing_certificate_id}}
Use this endpoint to submit a request to create an order for a Code Signing (CS) or EV Code Signing (EV CS) certificate. In the endpoint path, replace code_signing_certificate_id
with the ID of the certificate you want to order:
Code Signing:
code_signing
EV Code Signing:
code_signing_ev
Warning
New private key storage requirement for Code Signing certificates
Starting May 16, 2023, DigiCert no longer accepts Code Signing (code_signing
) certificate requests using browser-based key generation and certificate installation or any other process that includes creating a CSR and installing your certificate on a laptop or server. This change affects new, renewal, and reissue code signing certificate requests submitted using the CertCentral UI and the Services API.
Reminder: Starting May 30, 2023, DigiCert can no longer issue certificates for requests that do not meet the new private key storage requirement.
Learn more:
Important
Industry requires RSA 3072-bit key minimum for all code signing certificates
On May 28, 2021, DigiCert made the following changes to our code signing certificate process:
Only issues RSA 3072-bit key or larger code signing certificates
Uses new intermediate CA and root certificates to issue our code signing and EV code signing certificates: RSA and ECC.
Learn more: Code signing changes in 2021
Code Signing and EV Code Signing provisioning methods
When creating a code signing certificate order, you choose how to generate and store the private key by specifying a provisioning method (cs_provisioning_method
) in your request.
Note
The cs_provisioning_method
parameter is optional. If omitted, DigiCert uses the default provisioning method configured in your CertCentral account settings.
CertCentral supports these provisioning methods:
DigiCert-provided hardware token
Use existing token
Install on HSM
DigiCert KeyLocker
DigiCert-provided hardware token (ship_token
)
DigiCert ships you a hardware token with instructions to activate your certificate (see Set Up Your DigiCert Provided eToken). To provide your shipping address, use the ship_info
object. Otherwise, DigiCert uses the default shipping address from your CertCentral account settings.
When you receive your token, use the DigiCert Hardware Certificate Installer (DHCI) to install the certificate. To get the initialization code for the order to use with DHCI, check the value of the hardware_init_code
parameter on the Order info API response.
Use existing token (client_app
)
Install the certificate on a supported secure token you already own. To identify your device, use the certificate.server_platform
object.
When your certificate is issued, use DHCI to install the certificate. To get the initialization code for the order to use with DHCI, check the value of the hardware_init_code
parameter on the Order info API response.
Install on an HSM (email
)
DigiCert sends you the certificate to install on your own Common Criteria EAL4+ standard or FIPS 140-2 level 2 HSM. A csr
is required when using this provisioning method. If you don't have a compatible HSM, use a different provisioning method.
When using the email
provisioning method, DigiCert sends the certificate requestor an agreement email. This email is to ensure that the private key is stored on an HSM that is certified as FIPS 140 Level 2, Common Criteria EAL 4+, or equivalent. DigiCert only issues the certificate after the requestor agrees to the private key protection requirement.
DigiCert KeyLocker (keylocker
)
Use DigiCert KeyLocker to generate and store your private key. DigiCert KeyLocker is a cloud‐based solution that provides FIPS 140-2 level 2 compliant private key generation and storage for your code signing certificates. Learn more about DigiCert KeyLocker.
When using keylocker
as the provisioning method, you still use CertCentral to complete validation and manage your order. When your certificate is issued, it is available in the DigiCert KeyLocker account linked to your CertCentral account. To use the certificate to sign code, you must have access to DigiCert KeyLocker.
I don't have access to DigiCert KeyLocker
The first time DigiCert receives a request from your CertCentral account to create a code signing certificate order with
keylocker
as the provisioning method, your primary CertCentral account administrator receives an email with instructions to set up DigiCert KeyLocker. To get access to the DigiCert KeyLocker UI and client tools, contact the primary administrator in your CertCentral account.Tip
For account administrators: Learn how to create a DigiCert KeyLocker user.
I have access to DigiCert KeyLocker
When issued, your certificate is available in your DigiCert KeyLocker account. You can immediately begin using the DigiCert KeyLocker client tools to sign code.
Note
DigiCert KeyLocker is not available in all CertCentral accounts.
Example requests and responses
Path parameters
Name | Req/Opt | Description |
---|---|---|
code_signing_certificate_id | required | Product identifier of the code signing certificate you want to order. Allowed values:
For a list of all product identifiers, see Glossary - Product identifiers. |
Request parameters
Name | Req/Opt | Type | Description |
---|---|---|---|
certificate | required | object | Certificate details. |
.. csr | conditional | string | Certificate signing request (CSR). Required for Code Signing and EV Code Signing certificates that will be installed on HSMs ( DigiCert rejects Note: The Services API does not extract information from the CSR to fill in the details of a certificate request. You must provide values for all relevant request parameters, including |
.. signature_hash | required | string | Hash algorithm used to signing the certificate. Allowed values: |
.. ca_cert_id | optional | string | ID of the intermediate certificate authority (ICA) certificate to select as the issuing certificate. To get the Account administrators can customize the default and allowed ICAs for each product at the container or user role level. If you do not provide a value for this parameter, we issue the certificate using the default ICA. If you provide the Note: Required if multiple CA certificates are configured. Also, this parameter is ignored if the option for ICA selection is not enabled for your account. To enable ICA selection, contact your account manager or the Support team. |
.. server_platform | conditional | object | Server platform type. |
.. .. id | conditional | int | Server platform ID. Allowed values: See Code Signing and EV Code Signing hardware platforms. Usage depends on provisioning method (
Important! When DigiCert receives a Code Signing or EV Code Signing request with a |
.. organization_units | optional | array | Department in your organization associated with the certificate. |
auto_renew | optional | int | Number of times the certificate should renew automatically. |
additional_emails | optional | array | Additional email addresses to receive certificate notification emails (e.g., certificate issuance, duplicate certificate, certificate renewals, etc.). |
renewal_of_order_id | optional | int | If order is a renewal, enter the previous order's ID. |
skip_approval | optional | bool | Specify if the order should skip the certificate request approval step and be immediately submitted for validation and issued when complete. Default: The |
organization_contact | optional | object | Organization contact for the order. Include this object at the root of the request body to create the order with a different organization contact than the one assigned to the Note: The order-level |
.. first_name | required | string | Contact first name. |
.. last_name | required | string | Contact last name. |
required | string | Contact email address. | |
.. job_title | optional | string | Contact job title. |
.. telephone | optional | string | Contact telephone number. |
.. telephone_extension | optional | string | Telephone extension. |
technical_contact | optional | object | Technical contact for the order. Include this object at the root of the request body to create the order with a different technical contact than the one assigned to the Note: The order-level |
.. first_name | required | string | Contact first name. |
.. last_name | required | string | Contact last name. |
required | string | Contact email address. | |
.. job_title | optional | string | Contact job title. |
.. telephone | optional | string | Contact telephone number. |
.. telephone_extension | optional | string | Telephone extension. |
organization | required | object | Object with information about the organization to associate with the request. You can associate the request with an existing organization by providing an organization ID, or you can create a new organization by submitting new information with your order request. For examples, see The To associate the request with an existing organization, pass the ID of the organization as the value of Note: When you submit an order with organization details instead of providing an organization ID, we check the organizations that already exist in your account to avoid creating a duplicate.
To override this behavior and force the request to create a new organization, set the Important: When you want to associate an order with an existing organization, we recommend always using the ID of the organization instead of the organization's details in the body of your request. To get the ID values for organizations in your account, use the List organizations endpoint. Additionally, we recommend deactivating unused organizations to ensure they are never accidentally assigned to a new order request. To deactivate an organization, use the Deactivate organization endpoint. |
.. id | conditional | int | The ID of an existing organization to associate with the order. To get the ID of organizations in your account, use the List organizations endpoint. Omit this value if you are creating a new organization with your request. |
.. name | conditional | string | Legal name of the organization. Required when creating a new organization. Character limit: 64 if |
.. assumed_name | optional | string | Public name of the organization. Also called Doing Business As (DBA) name. Character limit: The combined length of the submitted |
.. country | conditional | string | Two-letter country code for the country where the organization is located. Required when creating a new organization. Format: Must be a valid ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code. |
.. address | conditional | string | Address of the organization. Required when creating a new organization. Character limit: 64 |
.. address2 | optional | string | Second line of the organization's address. Character limit: 64 |
.. city | conditional | string | City where the organization is located. Required when creating a new organization. Character limit: 64 |
.. state | conditional | string | State or province where the organization is located. Use the full name instead of an abbreviation. Required when creating a new organization. Character limit: 64 |
.. zip | conditional | string | Postal code of the organization. Required when creating a new organization. Character limit: 128 |
.. telephone | conditional | string | Organization telephone number. Required when creating a new organization. Character limit: 32 |
.. contacts | conditional | string | List of objects with information about the organization contact, technical contact, and verified contacts for the organization. Whether you need to provide a list of contacts depends on your usage requirements and whether the order is for a new or existing organization. |
.. .. contact_type | required | string | |
.. .. user_id | conditional | string | To add an existing user as the contact, provide the user ID. For verified contacts:
|
.. .. first_name | required | string | First name of the contact. Character limit: 128 |
.. .. last_name | required | string | Last name of the contact. Character limit: 128 |
.. .. job_title | conditional | string | Job title of the contact. Required for verified contacts. Character limit: 64 |
.. .. telephone | conditional | string | Telephone number that can be used to reach the contact. Required for verified contacts. Character limit: 32 |
.. .. telephone_extension | optional | string | Phone extension of the contact. Character limit: 16 |
required | string | Email address that can be used to reach the contact. Character limit: 255 | |
.. skip_duplicate_org_check | optional | bool | Use Default: |
container | optional | object | If needed, specify the container the order should be placed under. |
.. id | required | int | Container ID. |
order_validity | required | object | Defines the validity period of the certificate and order. |
.. years | required* | int | Number of years the certificate and order are valid. *Can be replaced by Range: |
.. days | optional | int | Number of days the certificate and order are valid. Overrides |
.. custom_expiration_date | optional | string | Custom expiration date for the certificate and order. Overrides Format: |
validity_years | optional | int | Number of years the certificate and order are valid. Deprecated. Use the Allowed values: |
custom_expiration_date | optional | string | Custom expiration date for the certificate and order. Overrides Deprecated. Use the Format: |
cs_provisioning_method | optional | string | |
ship_info | optional | object | For Code Signing or EV Code Signing orders with a Optional for both Code Signing and EV Code Signing certificates. For orders that omit the |
.. name | required | string | Name of the recipient. |
.. addr1 | required | string | Shipping address for the token. |
.. addr2 | optional | string | Secondary address field. |
.. city | required | string | Shipping city. |
.. state | required | string | Shipping state. |
.. zip | required | string | Shipping postal code. |
.. country | required | string | Shipping country. |
.. method | required | string | Shipping priority for the token. Allowed values: |
subject | optional | object | Object containing subject details. |
optional | string | Subject email address. Must have a validated domain. The Services API only supports the | |
custom_fields | conditional | object | Account-specific custom fields. Whether these fields are required depends on your custom field settings. |
.. metadata_id | required | int | Custom field ID. |
.. value | required | string | Value for the custom field. Data validation type depends on your custom field settings. |
payment_method | optional | string | Payment method for the order. Allowed values:
|
credit_card | conditional | object | Object with information about the credit card charged for the order. Required if |
.. number | required | string | Credit card number. |
.. expiration_month | required | integer | Credit card expiration month. Format as a two-digit number between |
.. expiration_year | required | integer | Credit card expiration year. Format as a four-digit number. For example: |
.. cvv | required | integer | Card verification value (CVV). Format as a three- or four-digit number. For example: |
.. cardholder_name | required | string | Cardholder’s first and last name. |
billing_address | conditional | object | Object with information about the billing address. Required if |
.. address | required | string | Billing street address. |
.. address2 | optional | string | Continuation of street address. |
.. city | required | string | Billing city. |
.. state | conditional | string | Billing state or province. Optional for some countries. |
.. country | required | string | Billing country. |
.. zip | conditional | string | Billing zip or postal code. Optional for some countries. |
vat_number | optional | string | |
alternative_order_id | optional | string | A custom alphanumeric ID to assign the order. To see the Alternative order IDs do not replace the unique order ID that DigiCert assigns each order request. You cannot use alternative order IDs to search for or identify orders in API calls that require an If the Require unique alternative order IDs option is enabled in your account settings, you cannot submit order requests with an alternative order ID that is already assigned to an order in your account. Use this feature to enable nonce order requests, or to prevent your integration from creating duplicate orders in cases where you do not receive a response from the API. Account administrators can toggle this option from the CertCentral console. From the Settings > Preferences page, open the Advanced Settings menu, and look for the Alternative order ID option. This parameter is always optional, even if the Require unique alternative order IDs option is enabled in your account. If a request does not use this parameter, no Maximum length: 64 characters Note: The Require unique alternative order IDs option may not appear in the advanced settings menu for all CertCentral accounts. To enable this option for your account, contact your account manager or our Support team. |
enable_guest_access | optional | int | Whether to enable guest access for the order. This parameter is not allowed if guest access is disabled in your account settings. Allowed values: Default: The default configuration for new orders is determined by your account settings. Account administrators can change these settings from the Guest Access page in the CertCentral console. |
Response parameters
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
id | int | Order ID. |
organization | object | Container for new organization details. Only returned if a new organization was created with the order. |
.. id | int | Organization ID for the new organization. |
requests | array | Contains information about the request. |
.. id | int | Request ID. |
.. status | string | Request status. Possible values: |
certificate_id | int | Certificate ID. Returned if request status is |
Contact types
Contact type | Description |
---|---|
| Organization contact.
|
| Technical contact.
|
| Before DigiCert can issue your certificate, a verified contact must approve the requestor's authority to order a certificate for the organization. An organization can have multiple verified contacts. Existing validated organizations When using an existing organization that is already validated or pending validation for CS or EV CS certificate issuance, DigiCert sends order approval emails to all CS or EV CS verified contacts for the organization. To send order approval emails to an additional Unvalidated or new organizations When creating a new organization, or when using an existing organization neither validated nor pending validation for CS or EV CS certificate issuance, include information about each By default, if you do not specify a verified contact for a new or unvalidated organization, DigiCert attempts to add the authenticated user (the user who owns the API key in the request) as a verified contact for the organization. DigiCert applies this default when:
Note*DigiCert must validate new verified contacts before they can approve CS or EV CS orders for the organization. |
Code Signing (CS) and EV Code Signing (EV CS) certificate orders must include information about the organization to associate with the code signing certificate. DigiCert must validate the organization before issuing the certificate. The following examples show three ways to add an organization to your CS or EV CS certificate order.
Use existing organization (validated)
When including an organization already submitted for CS or EV CS validation, either by itself or as part of an earlier certificate order request, you only need to include the organization's ID in your new order request:
{ "certificate": { ... } "organization": { "id": 12345 }, ... }
If needed, you can update the organization contact or technical contact and add new verified contacts to the organization. Use the organization.contacts
array to provide information about each new contact. To learn more, see Contact types.
{ "certificate": { ... } "organization": { "id": 12345, "contacts": [ { "contact_type": "verified_contact", "user_id": 12345 }, { "contact_type": "organization_contact", "user_id": 56789 }, { "contact_type": "technical_contact", "first_name": "Jane", "last_name": "Doe", "job_title": "Technician", "telephone": "1234567890", "email": "jane.doe@example.com" } ] }, ... }
Use existing organization (not validated)
When including an existing organization never submitted for CS or EV CS validation, you can submit the organization for validation as part of your certificate order request:
In the
organization
object, provide theid
of the existing organization.In the
organization.contacts
array, provide a list of verified contacts to submit as CS or EV CS approvers for the organization.After creating the order, the organization is automatically submitted for the validation type corresponding to the chosen product (CS or EV CS).
For example:
{ "certificate": { ... } "organization": { "id": 12345, "contacts": [ { "contact_type": "verified_contact", "user_id": 12345 } }, ... }
Use a new organization
When adding a new organization, use the organization
object to provide the organization's name, location, and phone number. Make sure to include an organization_contact
and at least one verified_contact
(see Contact types). When you create the order, the new organization is added to your CertCentral account and submitted for CS or EV CS validation.
{ "certificate": { ... }, "organization": { "name": "New Organization", "assumed_name": "New Organization", "country": "us", "address": "123 Example Street", "address2": "Floor 08", "city": "Lehi", "state": "Utah", "zip": "12345", "telephone": "123-456-789", "contacts": [ { "contact_type": "verified_contact", "first_name": "John", "last_name": "Doe", "job_title": "Technician", "telephone": "1234567890", "email": "john.doe@example.com" }, { "contact_type": "organization_contact", "first_name": "Jane", "last_name": "Doe", "job_title": "Supervisor", "telephone": "1234567890", "email": "jane.doe@example.com" }, { "contact_type": "technical_contact", "first_name": "Alex", "last_name": "Doe", "job_title": "Technician", "telephone": "1234567890", "email": "alex.doe@example.com" } ] }, ... }
Starting May 16, 2023, DigiCert requires private keys for Code Signing (code_signing
) certificates to be stored on hardware certified as FIPS 140 Level 2, Common Criteria EAL 4+, or equivalent. This change affects new, renewal, and reissue code signing certificate requests submitted using the CertCentral UI and the Services API.
Starting May 2, 2023:
The CertCentral Services API will accept code signing certificate requests using the new provisioning methods.
The new provisioning methods are the same provisioning methods DigiCert already supports for EV Code Signing certificates.
CertCentral administrators can choose default provisioning methods for Code Signing and EV Code Signing certificates.
DigiCert uses the default provisioning methods when we receive code signing certificate requests that do not specify a provisioning method.
Learn more about DigiCert's timeline for changes to the Code Signing workflow.
What do I need to do?
Do you use the Services API to order Code Signing certificates?
No
No action required.
Yes
Between May 2 and May 16, 2023, complete the following:
In API clients that request or reissue Code Signing certificates, migrate your usage to the new provisioning methods. See Code Signing and EV Code Signing provisioning methods.
Update your CertCentral account settings:
Select default provisioning methods for Code Signing and EV Code Signing certificates that are compatible with your workflows.
Confirm the default shipping address for the DigiCert-provided hardware token option.