Concepts

Environments and keys

Organisation, app, environment, key. The environment is the key: ak_test_ opens the sandbox, nothing else.

Four nouns nest: an organisation owns applications, an application owns exactly one sandbox environment, an environment holds a key. The environment is the unit of isolation — a key can only ever see the one it was minted for.

organisation
└── application
    └── environment  (DemoSandbox)
        ├── api key   ak_test_…   ← capabilities
        └── objects   accounts · endpoints · transfers

One sandbox environment per app; the key is baked to it.

The key is the environment

A sandbox key carries the shape ak_test_…. Its organisation, application, and environment are fixed in the credential itself; a request whose target does not match is refused before any work is done. A live key (ak_live_…) is rejected here on principle — the sandbox never accepts one.

Capabilities

A key is not all-powerful. Each carries a chosen set of ApplicationApiCapability values, and an operation is refused unless the key holds the capability it names. This is why two keys in the same environment can differ: one may read balances and never move money.

What the environment shares

Inside one environment, objects are visible to any key that holds the right capability — balances are keyed by account and endpoint, not by key. Isolation is the environment boundary, not the key. Retire an environment to start clean; there is no reset.