---
api: 'Merchant API'
---

# Payment intents

Operations for managing payment intents in the push payments to Revolut Terminal flow.

A **payment intent** represents the intention to complete payment for a specific order on a specific Revolut Terminal device. Payment intents are the mechanism that links orders created via the Merchant API with physical terminal devices in **Pay at Counter** mode.

## What is a payment intent?

When you create a payment intent, you're pushing a payment request from your POS system to a Revolut Terminal. The payment intent:

- Links an order to a specific terminal device
- Triggers the payment request to appear on the terminal screen
- Tracks the customer's interaction with the terminal (pending → processing → completed)
- Provides a `payment_id` when completed, which you use to retrieve the final payment status

## Payment intent lifecycle

1. **Create:** Push a payment intent to a terminal by [creating a payment intent](/docs/api/merchant#create-a-payment-intent)
1. **Track:** Poll the payment intent status by [retrieving payment intent details](/docs/api/merchant#retrieve-a-payment-intent) until it reaches a final state
1. **Complete:** When state is `completed`, extract the `payment_id` and [retrieve the final payment status](/docs/api/merchant#retrieve-payment-details)
1. **Cancel (optional):** Cancel pending payment intents using [Cancel a payment intent](/docs/api/merchant#cancel-a-payment-intent)

## Important notes

- A payment intent reaching `completed` state means the checkout process finished on the terminal, but it does **not** guarantee the payment succeeded
- You must check the actual payment status using the `payment_id` returned in the completed payment intent
- Payment status can be `captured`/`completed` (successful), `declined` (card rejected), `failed` (technical error), or `cancelled`

:::info
For the complete push payments integration guide, see: [Push payments to Revolut Terminal](/docs/guides/merchant/accept-payments/in-person-payments/terminal/push-payments).
:::