Console guide: going live

Draft. Written from the repository's documents and code; not yet reviewed by the owner.

Every app has a sandbox and a live environment. The sandbox is for building against; live is where real customers are charged. This page walks through the Go live page that switches live on, and the tool that copies your sandbox configuration to live. The concepts are in Test mode.

It was written from the console's own texts (every name in bold is a string of the English console) and its pages' code, not by following it on a screen with a person, and nothing here was done against a real provider account. Where the console differs, the console is right.

The state live starts in

The live environment starts switched off: no live keys, no live webhooks, no real charges. Until it is switched on it has no figures (Live shows no figures until it is active.), creating a live API key is refused with plans.api_key.tenant_not_active, and your sandbox keeps working in the meantime.

The checklist

The Go live page (under the app's settings) lists five steps, each saying what is missing and taking you to where you fix it. The header counts how many are done.

Confirm the owner's e-mail address: open the link in the message the console sent, or ask for a new one from the banner.
Complete the legal profile (name, country, tax id): Your legal name, address and tax id are printed on every live invoice. The Billing profile form on the same page asks for the Legal name, the address, the Tax id (the form says whether the seller's country requires it for invoices; spaces and dashes are ignored) and an optional Tax office (optional). The Language of invoices and mails is used for a customer who has no language of their own. Save with Save billing profile.
Connect a payment provider in live mode: the Payment provider card. Keys are typed once and stored encrypted. The provider is asked to accept them before they count. Choose a provider (Stripe, Paddle, iyzico or bank transfer), type its keys (Secret keys are not shown again after you save. Use live keys, not test keys.) and press Check and connect; a bank transfer needs only bank details (Save bank details). The provider guides say what each one needs: Stripe, Paddle, iyzico. A connected account shows as Working or Not working.
Publish at least one plan in live: Copy your sandbox plans to live below, or create one in live.
Accept the terms of service: I accept the terms of service for this app's live environment. Only the owner of the account can switch live on.

When every step is done, an owner presses Switch live on; before that the button says Finish the other steps first. After it, the page says Your live environment is active. A live environment that was suspended, frozen or banned shows Your live environment is on hold (suspended, frozen or banned). Contact support to have it reinstated.

Copying the sandbox configuration to live

Copy sandbox configuration to live saves rebuilding by hand: Meters, plans and prices, tax rates, coupons, mail settings, webhook endpoints and the texts of your agreements. Never customers, usage, invoices, payments or acceptances. It only adds: anything that already exists in live and differs is left alone. Only owners and administrators can use it.

Preview the changes: nothing is written. The preview lists, per family (meters, plans, tax rates, coupons, e-mail, webhooks, contracts), what is Added, what is the Same and what is a Conflict. A conflict is an object that exists in live with different settings. It is left as it is; change it in live by hand if you want them to match.
Add {n} to live applies exactly the changes shown. If the configuration changed in the meantime, you are asked to preview again.
A new signing secret was made for each webhook endpoint below. It is shown only now; the sandbox's secret was not copied. Give the new secrets to your live receivers.

Running it again changes nothing, because objects are matched by their code.

After going live

Make a live API key on the app's keys page (a qk_live_ key; see Authentication) and change the key and the address in your code. Live requires an idempotency_key on every usage event (Idempotency).
Create the live webhook endpoint (Webhook endpoints) with an https address.
Try one small real payment before you send customers there. Nothing in this repository has been run against a live provider account.

The Sandbox tools page resets the sandbox (Deletes the sandbox's customers, subscriptions, usage, invoices and payments. Plans, prices, meters, tax rates, coupons, webhook endpoints, mail settings and API keys stay. Live is never touched.) and lists the payment scenarios.