Overview

Environments

Build and test safely in Sandbox before connecting to the Live Penny environment.

Penny provides an isolated Sandbox environment where you build, test, and validate your integration before going live.

Sandbox includes the Penny Banking and Issuing APIs, plus a dedicated Simulation API for driving transaction flows and state changes.

EnvironmentPenny BankingPenny IssuingSimulation
Sandboxhttps://sandbox.api.thepennyinc.comhttps://issuing.sandbox.api.thepennyinc.comhttps://simulate.sandbox.api.thepennyinc.com
Livehttps://live.api.thepennyinc.comhttps://issuing.live.api.thepennyinc.com—

Sandbox

Use Sandbox while developing and testing your integration.

Sandbox and Live are entirely separate systems, not a shared system with a test flag. Sandbox data is never mixed with, migrated to, or visible from Live, and vice versa.

Sandbox is isolated from Live:

  • Sandbox credentials cannot access Live.
  • Live credentials cannot access Sandbox.
  • Resources and data created in Sandbox are not available in Live.
  • Separate Sandbox and Live logins are provided.

You can use Sandbox to create test resources, issue test cards, move test funds, receive webhooks, and validate integration behavior without moving real money or issuing real cards.

Simulation API

The Simulation API drives test scenarios through Penny without waiting for real external events.

Use:

https://simulate.sandbox.api.thepennyinc.com

Use the simulation endpoints to test card authorizations, incoming and outgoing payments, and later transaction updates such as clearing or reversal.

Simulation is available only in Sandbox.

Live

Live connects your integration to the production Penny environment.

Live can move real money and issue real, usable cards.

Live access is provisioned separately from Sandbox and is only enabled after the required commercial agreements, onboarding, and integration readiness checks have been completed with Penny.

You will receive separate Live login and API credentials when access is approved.

Keep environments separate

Requests are routed by the host you call. There is no environment header or request parameter.

Configure Sandbox and Live independently:

# Sandbox
PENNY_BANKING_URL=https://sandbox.api.thepennyinc.com
PENNY_ISSUING_URL=https://issuing.sandbox.api.thepennyinc.com
PENNY_SIMULATION_URL=https://simulate.sandbox.api.thepennyinc.com
# Live
PENNY_BANKING_URL=https://live.api.thepennyinc.com
PENNY_ISSUING_URL=https://issuing.live.api.thepennyinc.com

A Sandbox credential sent to a Live host, or a Live credential sent to a Sandbox host, will fail authentication.

Start your integration in Sandbox, validate the required success and failure scenarios, then work with your Penny contact to enable Live access.