Discovery Finder Service

The Discovery Finder Service helps you locate other discovery services in the Tractus-X dataspace. Think of it as a phone book for finding the right service endpoints based on what you're looking for.

What it does

When you need to find a specific type of discovery service (like BPN discovery or part ID discovery), the Discovery Finder Service tells you where to find it. Instead of hardcoding URLs, you can dynamically discover the current endpoints.

How it works:

1. Ask the Discovery Finder for a specific discovery type (e.g., "bpn")
2. Get back the URL where that service is running
3. Use that URL with other services like ConnectorDiscoveryService

This is especially useful because service endpoints can change, and the Discovery Finder keeps track of the current locations.

What you can do with it

The service supports different types of discoveries:

• BPN Discovery: Find connector endpoints for Business Partner Numbers
• Part ID Discovery: Locate services for manufacturer part identification
• Custom Types: Works with any discovery type that gets added to the system

You can also ask for multiple discovery types at once instead of making separate requests.

Setting it up

The service handles OAuth2 authentication automatically once you provide the credentials, and it's flexible enough to work with different API response formats if needed.

Core Methods

Method Name	Parameters	Description	Return Type
find_discovery_urls	keys: list = ["bpn"]	Finds discovery service URLs for specified types	dict

Getting started

First, import what you need:

Python

from tractusx_sdk.dataspace.managers import OAuth2Manager
from tractusx_sdk.dataspace.services.discovery import DiscoveryFinderService

Then set up the service with your OAuth2 credentials:

Python

# Set up authentication
oauth_manager = OAuth2Manager(
    realm="CX-Central",
    clientid="your-client-id",
    clientsecret="your-client-secret", 
    auth_url="https://your-auth-server.com"
)
oauth_manager.connect()

# Create the discovery finder
discovery_finder = DiscoveryFinderService(
    url="https://your-discovery-finder.com/api/v1.0/administration/connectors/discovery/search",
    oauth=oauth_manager
)

Basic usage

Python

# Find discovery URLs for common types
discovery_urls = discovery_finder.find_discovery_urls(keys=["bpn", "manufacturerPartId"])
print(discovery_urls)  # {'bpn': '...', 'manufacturerPartId': '...'}

Error handling

Things can go wrong, so wrap your calls in try/catch blocks:

Python

try:
    discovery_urls = discovery_finder.find_discovery_urls(keys=["bpn"])
    print(f"BPN Discovery URL: {discovery_urls['bpn']}")

except ConnectionError as e:
    print(f"Authentication error: {e}")
    print("Make sure OAuth2 is connected with oauth_manager.connect()")

except Exception as e:
    print(f"Something went wrong: {e}")

Using with other services

The Discovery Finder is often used with ConnectorDiscoveryService:

Python

from tractusx_sdk.dataspace.services.discovery import ConnectorDiscoveryService

# Pass the discovery finder to connector discovery
connector_discovery = ConnectorDiscoveryService(
    oauth=oauth_manager,
    discovery_finder_service=discovery_finder,
    connector_discovery_key="bpn"
)

# Now find connector endpoints for a BPN
endpoints = connector_discovery.find_connector_by_bpn("BPNL000000000001")
print(endpoints)

Common problems

Authentication not connected

Make sure you call oauth_manager.connect() first:

Python

oauth_manager.connect()  # Do this before using discovery_finder

Response was not successful

• Check your discovery finder URL is correct
• Verify your OAuth2 credentials
• Make sure the service is running and accessible

No endpoints found

• Double-check the discovery type names (e.g., "bpn", not "BPN")
• The discovery services might not be registered yet
• Try a different discovery type to test

Tip

• Cache the results - Discovery URLs don't change often, so you can cache them
• Batch requests - Ask for multiple discovery types at once instead of separate calls
• Reuse instances - Create one Discovery Finder and use it throughout your app
• Use environment variables - Store OAuth2 credentials securely
• Check authentication - Make sure OAuth2 is connected before making requests

Further Reading

• Dataspace Library Overview
• Connector Discovery Service
• BPN Discovery Service
• OAuth2 Authentication
• API Reference

NOTICE

This work is licensed under the CC-BY-4.0.

• SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
• SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025 Contributors to the Eclipse Foundation
• Source URL: https://github.com/eclipse-tractusx/tractusx-sdk