Overview
Credential Offers are the mechanism for initiating credential issuance in the Issuer2 Service. An offer is created from a credential profile and generates an OID4VCI credential offer URL that any compliant wallet can claim.
What is a Credential Offer?
A credential offer is a one-time or limited-use invitation for a wallet to receive a credential. When you create an offer, you specify:
- Profile – The credential profile to use as the base configuration.
- Authentication Method – Pre-authorized or authorization code flow.
- Delivery Mode – Credential offer by reference or by value.
- Expiration – How long the offer remains valid.
- Runtime Overrides – Any profile values to override for this specific offer.
Offer Flow
- Create Offer – Call the offers endpoint against a profile.
- Share URL – Send the credential offer URL to the user (QR code, deep link, etc.).
- Wallet Claims – The user's wallet resolves the offer and receives the credential.
Authentication Methods
| Method | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
PRE_AUTHORIZED | No user authentication required | Known users, pre-verified data |
AUTHORIZED | User must authenticate via IdP | Unknown users, dynamic data collection |
See Protocol Flows for the full sequence diagrams and guidance on when to use each.
Offer Delivery Modes
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
BY_REFERENCE | Offer URL contains a reference; wallet fetches full offer from issuer (default). |
BY_VALUE | Full credential offer is embedded in the URL. |
BY_REFERENCE is recommended for most use cases: it keeps URLs short and lets the issuer track when offers are resolved.
Issuer State Mode
For the authorization code flow, you can include an issuer_state parameter so the issuer can correlate the later authorization request with this offer's session:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
INCLUDE | Include issuer state for session correlation. |
OMIT | No issuer state. |
issuerStateMode applies only to AUTHORIZED offers; for PRE_AUTHORIZED offers it must be omitted. See Runtime Overrides for how issuer state interacts with per-offer overrides.
Next Steps
- Create an Offer – Step-by-step guide to creating credential offers.
- Notifications & Session Events – Monitor issuance progress in real time.