Gateway Environments & Sandbox Simulation

Rook routes API traffic through two enterprise gateway hosts: the Demo/Sandbox Gateway for development testing and simulation, and the Production Gateway for pre-production institution validation (UAT) and live payments.

Gateway Base URLs & Key Scope

Environment / App Type	Gateway Base URL	Key Prefix	Description & Rules
Sandbox (Test)	https://api.sandbox.rookpayments.com/v1	rk_test_...	Simulated rails, automated test mocks. Rejects live and UAT keys. Supports `/v1/simulate/**` endpoints. Unlimited apps per program.
UAT (Pre-Production)	https://api.rookpayments.com/v1	rk_uat_...	Issued on production gateway when `uat_enabled` is set for a program. Pre-production institution validation. One active app per program. Rejects simulation routes.
Live (Production)	https://api.rookpayments.com/v1	rk_live_...	Live Federal Reserve FedNow, Visa/Mastercard, NACHA rails (99.99% SLA). One active app per organization. Rejects simulation routes.

Important Gateway Routing Notes:

There is no standalone api.uat.rookpayments.com host; UAT requests are directed to https://api.rookpayments.com with an rk_uat_... key.
The Demo gateway (api.sandbox.rookpayments.com) rejects live and UAT keys.
All /v1/simulate/** simulation endpoints reject live and UAT keys, and are only accessible in sandbox.

Sandbox Simulation Operations

Simulation operations are served exclusively on the sandbox host (https://api.sandbox.rookpayments.com) with a rk_test_ key. Sandbox objects never affect production balances, physical cards, or real bank accounts.

Simulating the Complete Issuing & Spend Flow

Test an end-to-end integration lifecycle:

Wallet Entity → Enrollment Review → Application Approval → Wallet → Card → Simulate Authorize → Settle

1. Check System Connectivity

curl https://api.sandbox.rookpayments.com/v1/status \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_test_..."

2. Simulate Real-Time Authorization

Trigger an inbound authorization without physical point-of-sale hardware:

curl -X POST "https://api.sandbox.rookpayments.com/v1/simulate/cards/crd_8f162a7b/authorizations" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_test_..." \
  -H "X-Program-ID: 7c9e6679-7425-40de-944b-e07fc1f90ae7" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "amount": 4500,
    "currency": "USD",
    "merchant_name": "ACME Cloud Services",
    "mcc": "5734"
  }'

3. Simulate ACH File Processing

Advance pending ACH debits or credits immediately to SETTLED:

curl -X POST "https://api.sandbox.rookpayments.com/v1/simulate/transfers/tx_4a910e/process" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_test_..." \
  -H "X-Program-ID: 7c9e6679-7425-40de-944b-e07fc1f90ae7"