Node.js API for MaxMind minFraud

Description

This package provides a server-side API for the MaxMind minFraud Score, Insights, Factors, and Report Transaction web services.

This package will not work client-side.

Requirements

MaxMind has tested this API with Node.js versions 22 and 24. We aim to support active or maintained LTS versions of Node.js.

Installation

npm install @maxmind/minfraud-api-node

You can also use yarn or pnpm.

API Documentation

Documentation for this API can be found here

Usage

To use this API, first create a new Client object. The constructor takes your MaxMind account ID and license key. For example:

const client = new minFraud.Client("1234", "LICENSEKEY");

The constructor also takes an optional third argument: an options object with timeout (milliseconds, default 3000), host (default minfraud.maxmind.com), and fetcher (a custom fetch implementation, e.g. to route requests through a proxy or custom dispatcher). If you would like to use the Sandbox environment, set host to sandbox.maxmind.com:

const client = new minFraud.Client("1234", "LICENSEKEY", { host: 'sandbox.maxmind.com' });

For backward compatibility, a number may be passed as the third argument and is treated as the timeout, though this is deprecated.

Then create a new Transaction object. This represents the transaction that you are sending to minFraud. Each transaction property is instantiated by creating a new instance of each property's class. For example:

const transaction = new minFraud.Transaction({
  device: new minFraud.Device({
    ipAddress: '81.2.69.160',
  }),
  email: new minFraud.Email({
    address: '[email protected]',
    domain: 'bar.com',
  }),
});

If Transaction instantiation fails, an ArgumentError is thrown. This is usually due to invalid property values.

After creating the Transaction object, you can send a Score, Insights, or Factors request, which returns a Promise that contains the corresponding model:

// minFraud Score
client.score(transaction).then(scoreResponse => ...);

// minFraud Insights
client.insights(transaction).then(insightsResponse => ...);

// minFraud Factors
client.factors(transaction).then(factorsResponse => ...);

If the request fails, the returned promise rejects with a WebServiceError. This extends the built-in Error and has the following shape:

{
  code: string
  error: string
  status?: number
  url: string
  cause?: unknown // the underlying error, when one exists
}

error is also available as the standard Error message, and when the failure was caused by another error (for example, a network failure), the original error is available as cause.

Reporting a transaction using the Report Transactions API

MaxMind encourages the use of this API, as data received through this channel is continually used to improve the accuracy of our fraud detection algorithms.

To use the Report Transactions API, create a new TransactionReport object. A valid tag and at least one of the following are required parameters: IP address, maxmind ID, minfraud ID, or transaction ID. Additional key values may also be set, as documented below.

See the API documentation for more details.

  const transactionReport = new minFraud.TransactionReport({
    tag: minFraud.Constants.Tag.NOT_FRAUD,

    // The following key/values are not mandatory but are encouraged
    chargebackCode: 'the string provided by your payment processor indicating the reason for the chargeback',
    ipAddress: '81.2.69.160',
    maxmindId: '12345678',
    minfraudId: '58fa38d8-4b87-458b-a22b-f00eda1aa20d',
    notes: 'some notes',
    transactionId: 'the transaction ID you originally passed to minFraud',
  });

  client.reportTransaction(transactionReport).then(() => ...);

If the request succeeds, no data is returned in the Promise.

If the request fails, the returned promise rejects with a WebServiceError (see above for its shape).

Errors and Exceptions

Thrown by the request and transaction models:

• ArgumentError - Thrown when invalid data is passed to the Transaction and Transaction property constructors.

Web service failures reject with a WebServiceError, which extends Error. It exposes code, error, an optional status, url, and, when the failure was caused by another error, the standard cause property. Both ArgumentError and WebServiceError (along with the WebServiceClientError type) are exported from the package.

In addition to the response errors returned by the web API, we also return these code values:

{
  code: 'SERVER_ERROR',
  error: <string>
}

{
  code: 'HTTP_STATUS_CODE_ERROR',
  error: <string>
}

{
  code: 'INVALID_RESPONSE_BODY',
  error: <string>
}

{
  code: 'NETWORK_TIMEOUT',
  error: <string>
}

{
  code: 'FETCH_ERROR',
  error: <string>
}

For FETCH_ERROR, the error message includes the underlying failure reason (for example, a DNS or connection error) when one is available, and the original error is also attached as cause.

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗