persona-core-workflow-a

Persona Core Workflow A — KYC Inquiry Flow

Overview

Build a complete KYC onboarding flow: create an inquiry from a template, embed the Persona verification UI in your web app, handle completion callbacks, and store verification results.

Prerequisites

• Completed persona-install-auth setup
• Inquiry Template configured in Persona Dashboard
• Web application with a frontend (React, HTML, etc.)

Instructions

Step 1: Backend — Create Inquiry Endpoint

// server.ts — Express endpoint to create inquiries
import express from 'express';
import axios from 'axios';

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

const persona = axios.create({
  baseURL: 'https://withpersona.com/api/v1',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.PERSONA_API_KEY}`,
    'Persona-Version': '2023-01-05',
  },
});

app.post('/api/verify', async (req, res) => {
  const { userId, email } = req.body;

  const { data } = await persona.post('/inquiries', {
    data: {
      attributes: {
        'inquiry-template-id': process.env.PERSONA_TEMPLATE_ID,
        'reference-id': userId,
        'fields': {
          'email-address': { type: 'string', value: email },
        },
      },
    },
  });

  res.json({
    inquiryId: data.data.id,
    sessionToken: data.data.attributes['session-token'],
  });
});

Step 2: Frontend — Embed Persona Flow

<!-- Include Persona's JavaScript SDK -->
<script src="https://cdn.withpersona.com/dist/persona-v5.0.0.js"></script>

<button id="verify-btn">Verify Identity</button>

<script>
document.getElementById('verify-btn').addEventListener('click', async () => {
  // Get inquiry from your backend
  const resp = await fetch('/api/verify', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ userId: 'user-123', email: 'alice@example.com' }),
  });
  const { inquiryId, sessionToken } = await resp.json();

  // Launch Persona embedded flow
  const client = new Persona.Client({
    inquiryId,
    sessionToken,
    onComplete: ({ inquiryId, status }) => {
      console.log(`Verification ${status} for inquiry ${inquiryId}`);
      // Notify your backend
      fetch(`/api/verify/${inquiryId}/complete`, { method: 'POST' });
    },
    onCancel: ({ inquiryId }) => {
      console.log('User cancelled verification');
    },
    onError: (error) => {
      console.error('Persona error:', error);
    },
  });

  client.open();
});
</script>

Step 3: Backend — Handle Completion

app.post('/api/verify/:inquiryId/complete', async (req, res) => {
  const { inquiryId } = req.params;

  // Fetch the completed inquiry from Persona
  const { data } = await persona.get(`/inquiries/${inquiryId}`);
  const attrs = data.data.attributes;

  const result = {
    inquiryId,
    status: attrs.status,                    // completed, approved, declined
    referenceId: attrs['reference-id'],      // your user ID
    createdAt: attrs['created-at'],
    completedAt: attrs['completed-at'],
  };

  // Store in your database
  await db.users.update(result.referenceId, {
    kycStatus: result.status,
    kycInquiryId: result.inquiryId,
    kycCompletedAt: result.completedAt,
  });

  res.json({ status: result.status });
});

Step 4: Resume Incomplete Inquiries

app.get('/api/verify/resume/:userId', async (req, res) => {
  // Find existing incomplete inquiry for this user
  const { data } = await persona.get('/inquiries', {
    params: {
      'filter[reference-id]': req.params.userId,
      'filter[status]': 'created',
      'page[size]': 1,
    },
  });

  if (data.data.length > 0) {
    const inquiry = data.data[0];
    // Resume the existing inquiry instead of creating a new one
    const resumeResp = await persona.post(`/inquiries/${inquiry.id}/resume`);
    res.json({
      inquiryId: inquiry.id,
      sessionToken: resumeResp.data.data.attributes['session-token'],
    });
  } else {
    res.json({ message: 'No pending inquiry' });
  }
});

Output

• Backend endpoint creating inquiries from templates
• Embedded Persona verification UI in web app
• Completion callback storing verification results
• Resume flow for incomplete verifications

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
422 Invalid template	Wrong template ID	Verify itmpl_* in Dashboard
SDK not loading	CSP blocking CDN	Add cdn.withpersona.com to CSP
onComplete not firing	User abandoned flow	Use onCancel handler
Stale session token	Token expired	Create new inquiry or resume

Resources

• Inquiries Overview
• Embedded Flow Integration
• Resume Inquiry

Next Steps

• Add verification checks: persona-core-workflow-b
• Set up webhooks: persona-webhooks-events