Go-live checklist

Switching from sandbox to live keys means you start moving real money — there are no test cards in production. Work through every item below before you flip the switch, and keep this page handy for your launch retro.

Keys & environmentsAskCopy

Your sandbox key (sk_test_…) and live key (sk_live_…) are interchangeable in code — only the value changes. The mistake that causes most launch incidents is a key leaking into the wrong environment.

# Production environment only
VINR_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
VINR_PUBLIC_KEY=pk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
VINR_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Webhooks & idempotencyAskCopy

Webhooks are how your backend learns that money actually moved. A missed or duplicated event becomes a missed fulfillment or a double shipment.

import { Vinr } from '@vinr/sdk';

const vinr = new Vinr({ secretKey: process.env.VINR_SECRET_KEY });

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const payload = await req.text();
  const signature = req.headers.get('x-vinr-signature');

  let event;
  try {
    event = vinr.webhooks.verify(payload, signature);
  } catch {
    return new Response('Invalid signature', { status: 400 });
  }

  // De-duplicate: VINR may redeliver the same evt_ on retry.
  if (await alreadyProcessed(event.id)) {
    return new Response('OK', { status: 200 });
  }

  await handleEvent(event);
  await markProcessed(event.id);

  return new Response('OK', { status: 200 });
}

Error & decline handlingAskCopy

In production, declines and network errors are routine, not edge cases. Handle them explicitly so customers see clear messaging and your team is not paged for expected failures.

• Declines — Surface a retry prompt for soft declines and a "use another method" path for hard declines. Do not retry a hard decline automatically.
• Network & timeouts — Wrap API calls with bounded retries and backoff, keyed by Idempotency-Key.
• Webhook lag — Never assume synchronous success. Show a pending state until payment.completed arrives.
• Validation errors — Log the request id from 4xx responses for support, but never echo raw error bodies to end users.

Confirm your decline copy in sandbox using the test cards 4000 0000 0000 0002 (declined) and 4000 0000 0000 3220 (3DS challenge).

Compliance sign-offAskCopy

Confirm your account is fully verified, your payout (po_) destination is set, and that any region-specific authentication (such as SCA in the EEA) is enabled. Make sure your customer-facing terms, refund policy, and privacy notice are live before you accept real payments.

Monitoring & alertsAskCopy

You cannot fix what you cannot see. Wire up observability before the first live charge, not after the first incident.

Next stepsAskCopy