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A sandbox is a real workspace you can build against safely — same API, same behavior — but sealed off from your live data, and unable to touch real money. It comes with a sk_test_ key and a bit of demo data so you can start calling endpoints right away. Sandboxes are free on every plan, so you can try the whole API before you upgrade.

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Create one

In the dashboard, open your account’s Workspaces tab and find the Sandboxes section (you can also create one from the store switcher). Give it a name, and you’ll get a test key that starts with sk_test_. You see the key once, when you create it — copy it then. If you lose it, reset the sandbox (below) to get a new one.

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You don’t change the URL — the key decides

There’s nothing special to point at. You call the same base URL as always:
A sk_test_ key sends the request to your sandbox; a sk_live_ key sends it to your real workspace. The key is what decides, so the same code works against both — just swap the key.

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What’s already inside

A new sandbox comes seeded with demo customers, products, and a few orders (one paid, one part-paid, one unpaid), so a call like GET /v1/products returns real-looking data immediately instead of an empty list.

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How a sandbox is different from a real workspace

Everything works the same, with a few deliberate guardrails so a sandbox can’t stand in for a real store:
  • No real money. You can’t connect Paystack or Stripe in a sandbox. Payments are simulated — record a payment against an order and its status flips to paid, but nothing is ever charged.
  • No real messages. Actions that would email or text someone (like notifying a customer about an order, or inviting a teammate) quietly do nothing — no real message goes out.
  • Webhooks are marked as test. Every event from a sandbox carries "livemode": false so your handler can tell test events from real ones. See Webhooks.
  • The inbox is limited. You can connect a social channel or two to try the inbox, but a sandbox isn’t meant to run a real one.
  • It expires when idle. A sandbox you stop using is cleaned up after 30 days. Using it resets that clock, so an active sandbox sticks around.
  • Up to five per account. Delete or reset an old one to make room.
Everything else — products, orders, customers, scopes, rate limits, pagination, errors — behaves exactly as it does live.

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Reset or delete

From the Sandboxes section you can:
  • Reset — wipe the sandbox back to fresh, reseeded data. A reset issues a new sk_test_ key (the old one stops working), so update your code with it.
  • Delete — remove the sandbox and everything in it.
To poke around a sandbox’s data in the dashboard, switch into it from the store switcher, just like any other workspace.

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A note on plans

The Developer API is a paid feature on a live workspace, so a sk_live_ key needs the right plan. A sandbox doesn’t — sk_test_ keys work on any plan, free. That’s the point: build and test first, upgrade when you’re ready to go live.