> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Days to Token Expiry, Interlink Express > Days to Token Expiry for Interlink Express stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Shipping & Courier](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Live count of days remaining until the Interlink Express MyDPD Business API credential expires. When this hits zero, label generation stops, tracking webhooks stop, and the merchant cannot ship until a human re-authenticates. The card is the early-warning trip-wire for a connector outage; treat anything below 14 days as a calendar event for the ops team. | | | | ----------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `floor((credential_expires_at - now) / 86400)` in days. | | **Credential type** | Interlink/DPD-group MyDPD Business API uses per-account credentials with a typical 12-month lifetime. OAuth flows where used have shorter token cycles; the card adapts. | | **What expiry means operationally** | Label generation via `int_label_generation_success` will start failing within hours of expiry. Tracking webhooks (POD events) stop flowing. Existing in-flight consignments continue to deliver but no new dispatch is possible. | | **Auto-refresh behaviour** | If integration set up with refresh-token support, Vortex IQ silently rotates before expiry. If API-key only, manual rotation required. | | **Service level scope** | Connector-wide. Affects all services equally. | | **Currency** | N/A | | **B2B vs B2C** | N/A | | **Time window** | `RT` | | **Alert trigger** | `<14 days`. Two-week window for clean rotation scheduling. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Interlink Express data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK merchant connected Interlink on 14 May 25; expiry is 14 May 26. Reading taken at 09:00 GMT on 30 Apr 26. | Field | Value | | --------------- | --------------------------- | | Credential type | MyDPD Business API key | | Issued at | 14 May 25 | | Expires at | 14 May 26 | | Days remaining | **14** | | Alert state | Tripped (=14, on threshold) | The card reads **14**, exactly on the alert threshold, prompting ops to schedule a rotation. Five things to notice: 1. **Two weeks is enough notice.** Rotation in MyDPD Business requires portal login by an account owner, generation of a new key, and copy-paste into the Vortex IQ connector. End-to-end \~10 minutes when nothing breaks; budget 1 to 2 hours for coordination. 2. **Schedule rotation 7 days early, not on the expiry day.** A rotation 7 days early gives a buffer if new key has any propagation delay. Interlink/DPD-group APIs have been observed to take up to 30 minutes to recognise newly-issued keys. 3. **Coordinate with `int_label_generation_success`.** That card is the operational symptom; this is leading indicator. Both red simultaneously = rotation has failed mid-flight. 4. **B2B-account merchants should rotate during weekday daytime.** B2B reseller dispatch on Pre10:30 expects pre-09:00 label generation; weekend rotations that drift into Monday-morning propagation are worst-case. DTC-only merchants have more flex. 5. **Set a calendar reminder for 11 months out.** Annual lifetime means the merchant should know each year when rotation is due. The card surfaces it at 14 days; the calendar reminder gives 30 days. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Token expiry is connector-health early-warning. Pair with these: | Card | Why pair it with Days to Token Expiry | What the combination tells you | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | [Label Generation Success](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/label-generation-success) | First operational symptom of token expiry. | If both red, rotation in flight may have failed. | | [API Error Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/api-error-rate) | 401/403 auth errors spike when token mid-rotation or just expired. | Spike + expiry imminent = new credential not propagated. | | [Shipments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/interlink-express/shipments) | Volume drops to zero on expiry. | Flatline-with-expiry-imminent is the catastrophic outcome. | | Cross-connector: any other shipping carrier auth-expiry. | Same operational role. Multi-carrier merchants should track all credential expiries on a single ops calendar. | Coordinated rotation week reduces ops cost. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Interlink Express's own dashboard:** [Interlink Express MyDPD Business](https://www.interlinkexpress.com/) → **Account Settings → API Access**. Shows each issued key with issue date, expiry, and rotation action. **Why our number may legitimately differ from MyDPD Business:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ------------------------- | --------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time zone** | Boundary | UK local time on both sides. | | **Multi-key accounts** | N/A | Card reads connected credential. Portal may show longer-lived keys alongside. | | **OAuth vs API key mode** | N/A | OAuth shows shorter access-token cycle but auto-refresh; card reads underlying refresh-token expiry. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ---------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- | --------------------------------- | | Cross-connector: any other carrier auth-expiry | Same operational role. | Different credential lifetimes. | ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **What happens if we miss the rotation window?** Label generation stops the moment the credential expires. New consignments cannot be booked. Existing in-flight consignments continue to deliver and tracking webhooks may continue to flow until cleanup, but no dispatch is possible. Recovery 30 to 90 minutes once new credential issued. **Who needs portal access?** The Interlink/DPD account owner (the named individual on the contract). Set up shared ops-team email for the portal login and bring multiple ops-team members onto the account; this avoids the only-one-can-rotate-and-they-are-on-holiday scenario. **Why does the alert fire at 14 days?** Operational realism. 30 days too noisy, 7 days too tight. 14 days gives clean two-week calendar slot, includes one full Saturday-Sunday gap. Override per-workspace if needed. **Does Interlink ever revoke keys before expiry?** Rarely. Will revoke if suspected leaked or misused, or if account is closed. Card reads intended expiry; unscheduled revocation surfaces on `int_api_error_rate` (401/403 spike) before this card catches up. Treat any 401/403 spike as urgent regardless. **Can we automate rotation?** Interlink/DPD-group does not currently support programmatic API-key rotation; manual portal action required. OAuth-mode integrations auto-refresh access tokens silently. The 14-day reminder is the automation today. **The card says 14 days but new key was issued yesterday; why has it not reset?** Two reasons. (1) The new key has not been pasted into the Vortex IQ connector yet; card reads connected credential. (2) Card cache: read-time sub-minute, but stale-cache windows of up to 5 minutes have been observed during portal-side propagation. **Multiple Interlink accounts: how do we monitor?** Each account has its own API key and its own expiry. Card surfaces credential of connected integration only. Multiple accounts = set up each as separate Vortex IQ Interlink connector. **Q4 peak considerations?** Credential lifetime is independent of dispatch volume. However operational cost of expiry is much higher during peak (a half-day of label-generation downtime in early December is catastrophic). Consider early rotation if credential expires inside November-December peak window; rotate in October. **Multi-carrier merchants: how do we coordinate rotations?** Pull all carrier credential-expiry-days into a single ops calendar (Interlink, Parcelforce, APC, DPD, Royal Mail, etc.). Schedule all rotations in a single quarterly maintenance window. Saves coordination cost and reduces forgotten-rotation risk. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Days to Token Expiry* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Interlink Express and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.