> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://coda-payments.gitbook.io/coda-public-technical-documentation/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://coda-payments.gitbook.io/coda-public-technical-documentation/codapay/hosted-component-integration/cards/authorize-and-capture-a-payment-separately.md).

# Authorize And Capture A Payment Separately

By default, Codapay processes card payments as a single charge — the authorization and capture happen in one step. With authorization and capture separation, you can split this into two distinct stages:

1. **Authorization** — The cardholder's bank verifies the payment and places a hold on the funds, but no money is transferred yet.
2. **Capture** — You explicitly confirm the payment, and the funds are transferred from the cardholder to your account.

If you decide not to proceed with the payment after authorization, you can **cancel** the authorized transaction to release the hold on the cardholder's funds.

### When to use it

Authorization and capture separation is useful when you need to:

* Verify inventory or product availability before finalizing a charge
* Perform additional fraud or compliance checks after the user completes payment authentication
* Review high-value transactions manually before capturing

### Prerequisites

To use authorization and capture separation, the following must be enabled for your account:

1. **POST Notifications** — Auth and capture separation is only available with POST notifications. Refer to the [Auth & Capture Notifications](/coda-public-technical-documentation/codapay/hosted-component-integration/cards/authorize-and-capture-a-payment-separately/auth-and-capture-notifications.md) page for details on activating POST notifications.
2. **Auth & Capture Separation** — This feature must be activated separately for your account.

Please contact your Codapay account manager to enable both features.

### How it works

The authorization and capture flow works as follows:

1. You initiate a payment request as usual. Once the feature is activated, Codapay will authorize the payment without capturing it.
2. You receive an `AUTHORIZATION_SUCCESSFUL` or `AUTHORIZATION_FAILED` notification via your webhook endpoint.
3. If the authorization is successful, you decide whether to **capture** or **cancel** the payment:
   * **Capture** — Call the [Capture a Payment Request](https://claude.ai/chat/cb09ca98-8996-43b7-87cb-cd20a04c1dea#) endpoint to finalize the payment. You will receive `CAPTURE_INITIATED`, then `CAPTURE_SUCCESSFUL` or `CAPTURE_FAILED` notifications.
   * **Cancel** — Call the [Cancel a Payment Request](/coda-public-technical-documentation/codapay/hosted-component-integration/cards/authorize-and-capture-a-payment-separately/cancel-a-payment-request.md) endpoint to release the held funds. The authorization will be voided.

### Next steps

* [Auth & Capture Notifications](/coda-public-technical-documentation/codapay/hosted-component-integration/cards/authorize-and-capture-a-payment-separately/auth-and-capture-notifications.md) — Notification event types and payload structure for authorization and capture events
* [Capture a Payment Request](/coda-public-technical-documentation/codapay/hosted-component-integration/cards/authorize-and-capture-a-payment-separately/capture-a-payment-request.md) — API reference for capturing an authorized payment
* [Cancel a Payment Request](/coda-public-technical-documentation/codapay/hosted-component-integration/cards/authorize-and-capture-a-payment-separately/cancel-a-payment-request.md) — API reference for canceling an authorized payment