Environments

There are two environments: sandbox and production. Both use the same API version and object model. The difference is that sandbox does not use real money, cards, or authorizations.

	Sandbox	Production
Base URL	https://api.aletaplanet.com — one host; the token selects the environment	Same
Cockpit	One app, with an environment switcher	Same, switched
Money	Synthetic	Real
Cards	Test BIN, never authorize at a real merchant	Live on the network
Identity verification	You report attestations as in production; a test-name shortcut seeds fixtures	You report attestations from real checks
Authorizations	Triggered by you, via the simulator	Triggered by card use
Physical fulfillment	Tracking is planned	Tracking is planned
Access	Self-serve after email verification	KYB, signed contract, program setup
Rate limits	Lower	Per agreement, from 1,000 req/min

The base URL is HTTPS-only. See base URL and versioning for versioning and deprecation rules.

Getting sandbox access

Sandbox access is self-serve. Verify your email in Cockpit, then register an OAuth client. You do not need a contract, program setup, or a sales call first.

The sandbox program is provisioned for you with a test BIN, one supported currency, and both card form factors enabled.

Getting production access

Production access is gated for regulatory reasons. You will need to complete business verification (KYB), sign a contract, and go through program setup, including the BIN range, card products, currencies, fee schedule, and limits.

Work through the go-live checklist before requesting production access. It is the same checklist we use during the setup process.

Keeping the two apart

The client determines the environment. There is no environment parameter or header, and a sandbox token cannot access production data, or the other way around. See authentication for how clients and tokens work.

Tokens are prefixed so you can tell which environment they belong to:

at_test_…      sandbox
at_live_…      production

Two rules are important:

• Never resolve a sandbox client and a production client from the same configuration value without an explicit environment switch. A common integration problem is deploying production traffic against sandbox and having it succeed without anyone noticing.
• Object IDs are not portable between environments. card_01HX8ZQ2K4M7P9RSTVWXYZAB in sandbox has no relationship to the same string in production. This also applies to your prog_ IDs: the same product has a different ID in each environment, so configuration needs a value for each environment rather than one shared constant. GET /v1/programs returns the IDs for the environment associated with the token used for the request.