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Going live

A sandbox and a live business answer the same API in the same way, so going live is a change of key and of business, not of code. Go through this list before you switch.

Switch to a live key

  1. The live business's owner or an admin makes a live key in its admin, at /{slug}/admin/api, with the scopes your integration needs and no more. It starts bk_live_ and is shown once.
  2. Store it as a secret, in your server's secret manager or environment: never in browser or mobile code, and never in a URL.
  3. Point your integration at the live business's slug: https://bookatu.com/api/v1/{slug}.
  4. Replace the bk_test_ key with it. A test key at a live business is refused with 403 LIVEMODE_MISMATCH, so a key left behind fails loudly rather than quietly.
  5. When the business needs the AI & API add-on for its keys (it is included on the Scale plan), the owner turns it on first; without it a keyed call answers 403 Enable the AI & API add-on.

Checklist

  • The live key is stored as a secret on your server only, and no test key is left in your production configuration.
  • Your webhook endpoints are made again on the live business: a sandbox's endpoints and their signing secrets do not carry over. Each live endpoint has its own signing secret, shown once; verify every delivery with it.
  • Your code checks livemode (or the Bookatu-Livemode header) and never treats a livemode: false answer or webhook as real, nor a livemode: true one as a test.
  • You send Bookatu-Version with the version you tested against, so a later version never changes what you get.
  • You handle 429: wait Retry-After seconds and back off with jitter (see Rate limits).
  • Deposit, card-hold and no-show flows were tried with the simulated checkout and the simulator, a declined card and an expired checkout included.
  • No test data is copied into the live business: its clients, bookings and services are its own, and a sandbox's made-up clients must never be imported.
  • A front end on the keyless endpoints no longer sends Bookatu-Livemode: false.
  • Your error handling reads code (such as TIME_NEEDS_OFFSET, DEPOSIT_NEEDS_BOOKING_PAGE, CARD_REQUIRED_USE_BOOKING_PAGE or MANAGE_KEY_REQUIRED) rather than the words, which may change.

After you switch

Keep the sandbox for testing your next change, and reset it when its data gets in the way; it is deleted after 30 days without use, with a warning 7 days before. Watch the changelog, and your logs for a Deprecation header.