Delivery/DoorDash

Questions
1

When creating an order via the Square Orders API with fulfillment.type = 'DELIVERY' and schedule_type = 'ASAP', does DoorDash automatically dispatch a driver if DoorDash is connected in the Square dashboard? Or does auto-dispatch only work for orders placed through Square Online? If API orders don’t trigger auto-dispatch, what’s the recommended approach?

4

No — creating an order via the Orders API with fulfillment.type = 'DELIVERY' does not automatically dispatch a DoorDash driver. The DoorDash auto-dispatch integration is a Square Online–native feature and does not extend to orders created directly through the API.

Additionally, the DELIVERY fulfillment type is currently a restricted Beta — without Square partnership/Beta enrollment, the order may not appear in Square POS or Order Manager as expected.

Recommended approach for API-created orders:

  1. Create the order via the Orders API with SHIPMENT fulfillment or another otherwise unused fulfillment type in order to differentiate between in-store orders.
  2. Subscribe to order.fulfillment.updated webhooks to track order readiness.
  3. When the order is ready, call the DoorDash Drive API (POST /drive/v2/deliveries) directly from your backend to dispatch a Dasher.
  4. Update the Square fulfillment state to COMPLETED once DoorDash confirms delivery.

This gives you full control over dispatch timing (e.g., waiting until the kitchen is ready before requesting a driver).