Environments and sandboxes

There is no separate test API. You test in a sandbox: a company of its own, linked to yours. Its keys start with exa_test_. Your real company's keys start with exa_live_. The API, the SDK and your code are the same in both, so going live is swapping the key.

Make a sandbox

An admin opens Settings → Developer → Sandboxes → New sandbox and names it (1 to 100 characters). Open switches into it. In the company switcher a sandbox has a Sandbox badge.

• A company can have 5 open sandboxes at once. A sixth is refused with sandbox_limit_reached.
• A sandbox cannot have sandboxes of its own.
• The admin who makes it is its admin and can invite others as usual.
• Sandboxes are made on the Developer page only. There is no API call to make one.

In the sandbox, make an app and a key as usual (see Apps and keys). An app that belongs to a sandbox gets exa_test_ keys.

How a sandbox differs

• Plan and billing. A sandbox follows your company's plan, and your company pays for its usage. It has no billing of its own: buying credits or a plan in it is refused with sandbox_billed_to_parent. It gets no monthly Free usage, plan usage or welcome gift.
• Messages to people outside it are held. A bid share email and a signed copy sent to anyone who is not a member of the sandbox are not sent, and no texts are sent. They show as "Not sent because this company is a sandbox". Invitations to join the sandbox are sent as usual.
• Webhooks and integrations work normally, so you can test your receiver end to end.
• No welcome or product emails go to a sandbox.

AI work in a sandbox

Takeoffs and file reads in a sandbox return results copied from our sample project, at no charge. They are marked "sample": true on the takeoff, on each of its pages and in the assessment.completed webhook. A takeoff you cancel in a sandbox carries "sample": true too.

Estimates, bids, element search and chat answer with samples too, at no charge. An estimate or bid made in a sandbox carries "sample": true, in the response and on the saved document. Other AI answers come from the call's own answer format, or read "This is a sample answer from a sandbox company.". Image generation is refused.

Delete a sandbox

Delete on the sandbox's row closes it: every app in it loses access, and its data is erased after the usual purge window. Calls with its keys then get 401.

Going live

1. In your real company, make the app and a key the same way. The key starts with exa_live_.
2. Swap EXAYARD_API_KEY (or whatever holds the key) to the new key.
3. Register your webhook endpoints in the real company too. Each endpoint has its own signing secret.

Your code needs no other change: a key implies its own company.