# GoRewards

> Canadian credit card rewards optimizer — free, no account required for the calculator.

GoRewards (gorewards.ca) helps Canadians find the best credit card for their spending. It calculates cashback and points value from monthly spending in seven categories (grocery, gas, dining, bills, travel, shopping, other), accounting for spending caps, welcome bonuses and annual fees. Card, bonus and rate records carry a `lastVerified` date, a `dataSource` and a `verificationStatus`.

## Key pages

- [Home / Calculator](https://gorewards.ca): Enter monthly spending and a reward goal, get a ranked card list and a month-by-month plan to reach the goal
- [Card Catalogue](https://gorewards.ca/cards): All active Canadian credit cards — rates, fees, bonuses, verification date
- [Compare Cards](https://gorewards.ca/compare): Side-by-side comparison of two cards with an AI-generated verdict
- [Calculators](https://gorewards.ca/calculators): Hub for the free, no-account credit card calculators
  - [Annual Fee Break-Even Calculator](https://gorewards.ca/calculators/annual-fee-break-even): Net yearly advantage of a fee card over a no-fee card and the monthly spend where the fee pays for itself; optional pre-fill from catalogue cards (effective rate on the baseline profile, welcome offers excluded)
  - [Welcome Bonus Spend Calculator](https://gorewards.ca/calculators/welcome-bonus): Required monthly spend, months needed and net offer value for a welcome offer's minimum spend and window; optional pre-fill from catalogue offers that state both
- [Cards by bank](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank): Hub listing every issuer in the catalogue, from the big banks to credit unions, with a card count each
- [Cards by program](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program): Hub listing every rewards program and cash back, with a card count and a link to each program's point valuation
- Bank pages (`https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/{bank}`): Cards from one Canadian issuer, with a live data summary (card count, no-fee cards, fee range, top estimated first-year net value on a disclosed baseline profile, strongest earn category, latest verification date); where an editorial guide exists, also guidance, sources and a last-reviewed date
- Program pages (`https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program/{program}`): Cards that earn one reward program or cash back, with the same live data summary; where an editorial guide exists, also how the program earns and redeems, sources and a last-reviewed date
- Guide pages with editorial content:
  - [Cash back cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program/cashback)
  - [Aeroplan cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program/aeroplan)
  - [RBC Avion cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program/avion)
  - [BMO cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/bmo)
  - [RBC cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/rbc)
  - [CIBC cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/cibc)
  - [Scene+ cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program/scene-plus)
  - [Amex Membership Rewards cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program/membership-rewards)
  - [CIBC Aventura cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program/aventura)
  - [Marriott Bonvoy cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-program/marriott-bonvoy)
  - [TD cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/td)
  - [American Express cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/amex)
  - [Scotiabank cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/scotiabank)
  - [National Bank cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/national-bank)
  - [Desjardins cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/desjardins)
  - [Rogers Bank cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/rogers)
  - [Tangerine cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/tangerine)
  - [Simplii Financial cards](https://gorewards.ca/cards/by-bank/simplii)
- [My Wallet](https://gorewards.ca/users): Personal wallet — add cards you hold, see current reward value and optimizer suggestions (free account required)
- [About](https://gorewards.ca/about): Who runs GoRewards, how it is funded and how to get in touch
- [Methodology](https://gorewards.ca/methodology): How card values, point valuations and rankings are calculated
- [Editorial Policy](https://gorewards.ca/editorial-policy): How content is researched, reviewed and kept separate from affiliate relationships
- [Corrections](https://gorewards.ca/corrections): How to report an error and how corrections are handled
- [Privacy Policy](https://gorewards.ca/privacy): How data is collected and used
- [Terms of Service](https://gorewards.ca/terms): Terms governing use of the service

## How the recommendation engine works

GoRewards uses two deterministic components, not a black box:

1. **Scoring engine (server)** — ranks every active card by expected first-year value for the submitted spending profile. Figures: `scores.expectedYearlyValue`, `scores.signupBonusValue`, `scores.yearlySpendRewards`, `breakdown.netFirstYearValue`, `scores.approvalProbability` (model estimate, not an issuer decision), `recommendation.monthsToGoal`.

2. **Route engine (client)** — builds a month-by-month plan from the ranked list, tracking welcome bonus spend progress each month. Figures: `roadmap.monthsToGoal`, `roadmap.totalPointsEarned`, `roadmap.steps[].instruction`, `roadmap.shortfall`.

The two engines can disagree by a month on time-to-goal; both are shown and labelled separately on the results screen.

## Data integrity

- Card, bonus and rate records carry a `lastVerified` date, a `dataSource` (the issuer page the values were read from, when recorded) and a `verificationStatus`
- Issuer pages are fetched and parsed automatically by a scheduled job (`/api/cron/update-cards`); no change is written to card data without admin approval
- Unverified figures are labelled as estimates — they are never presented as issuer commitments
- Point-to-dollar conversions use our own valuations; no loyalty program publishes an official rate
- Currency: CAD
- Language: en-CA

## Supported reward programs

Aeroplan, Avion (RBC), Scene+, Air Miles, TD Rewards, MBNA Rewards, Aventura (CIBC), Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, American Express Membership Rewards, Cashback

## API

Public read-only API — no authentication required for card catalogue and recommendations.

Full endpoint list: /.well-known/api-catalog

Base URL: `https://gorewards.ca/api`

Key endpoints:
- `GET /api/v1/cards` — versioned public card data (fees, earn rates with units, caps, welcome offers, sources, verification dates); field dictionary at https://gorewards.ca/data
- `GET /api/cards` — list all active cards with reward rates, fees, bonuses
- `POST /api/recommend/enhanced` — card recommendations for a spending profile and goal; body: `{ spending, creditScore?, preferredPointTypes?, goal? }`. `spending` is monthly CAD by category: required `grocery`, `gas`, `dining`, `bills`; optional `travel`, `shopping`, `other` (default 0)
- `POST /api/comparison-verdict` — AI prose verdict for two catalogue cards; body: `{ card1Slug, card2Slug }` (no other fields accepted; the comparison slug is derived server-side)

## Authentication

Card catalogue and calculator are fully public. Wallet, profile and insights endpoints require a Clerk session token (Bearer). See `/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource` for protected endpoint list and `/.well-known/openid-configuration` for OIDC details.

## Discovery files

- `/.well-known/api-catalog` — RFC 9727 linkset of all API endpoints
- `/.well-known/openid-configuration` — OIDC discovery (delegated to Clerk)
- `/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource` — which endpoints require authentication
- `/.well-known/agent-card.json` — agent capabilities card
- `/auth.md` — agent registration guidance

## Contact

Site: https://gorewards.ca  
About: https://gorewards.ca/about  
Email: hello@gorewards.ca  
Corrections: https://gorewards.ca/corrections  
Privacy: https://gorewards.ca/privacy