Sandbox / Test Mode

Use test keys (prefix spk_test_) to exercise the API without creating real orders, charging cards, or sending emails.

How test keys work

Test keys hit the same production API endpoints as live keys, but with these differences:

Orders created are flagged is_test = 1 and excluded from revenue reports
Stripe/PayPal calls use sandbox credentials configured on your tenant
Transactional emails (order confirmations, shipping notifications, gift card emails) are suppressed — only logged, not sent
Rate limits and scopes behave exactly the same as live keys

Creating a test key

Go to Commerce → API Keys in admin
Click Generate Key
Select Test / Sandbox for the environment
Choose scopes and rate tier
Save the generated spk_test_... key

What data you can see

Test keys can read both live and test data — useful for comparing behavior
Live keys only see live data — test orders are invisible to them

Example: safely test order creation

curl -X POST https://api.spectradiag.com/api/v1/orders \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer spk_test_xxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "cart_id": "abc-123",
    "billing": { "name": "Test Customer", "address1": "123 Main", "city": "Brooklyn", "state": "NY", "zip": "11201", "email": "test@example.com" },
    "shipping": { "name": "Test Customer", "address1": "123 Main", "city": "Brooklyn", "state": "NY", "zip": "11201" },
    "payment": { "method": "stripe" }
  }'

Returns a real order response, but:

is_test: true is set on the order
No confirmation email is sent
Stripe in sandbox mode — use Stripe's test card numbers (opens in a new tab)

Switching to production

When you're ready to go live:

Create a new spk_live_... key with the same scopes
Update your integration to use the live key
Delete the test key (optional — they're harmless left around)

Tips

Use clearly labeled keys: "Staging integration (test)" vs "Production integration"
Test keys never charge real money — safe for CI/CD test runs
Webhook events from test-flagged orders are not delivered to production webhook URLs (to prevent accidentally processing test data in production). Create a separate webhook subscription pointing at your staging environment.

Pagination Webhooks