api_key, a zn_test_ value), a complete example order body, a claim URL, and an ordered next list.
Agents: don’t work from this page. Install the universal-checkout skill —
npx skills add zincio/skills --skill universal-checkout — and follow its
Getting started section. These pages explain the flow to the human reading over
your shoulder; the skill carries the step-by-step.Why it works this way
Every other path to an API key assumes a person: a signup form, an email confirmation, a dashboard visit. An agent evaluating whether it can buy something has none of those, and asking it to stop and wait for a human is what kills the integration before it starts. So the funnel is inverted. The agent proves the integration works first, against sandbox data that costs nothing and risks nothing. The human shows up once, at the end, to approve a key — and that approval preserves everything the agent already built.The responses double as documentation. Agents read the bytes they get back, not
a docs site, so every field they need to proceed — the key, a valid order body,
the ordered next steps, what the wallet can afford — is in the response itself.
The shape of it
1
Mint
One unauthenticated
POST /sandbox/keys. Returns a sandbox key, an example order, and a claim URL.2
Build
Place sandbox orders, watch the real lifecycle on a fast clock, and rehearse every failure mode against magic product URLs.
3
Get approved
The agent calls
POST /device/code and shows the human a link. They sign in, see what the agent gets, and click Allow.4
Buy something
The agent polls
POST /device/token and receives a live zn_live_ key, the wallet balance, and a starter credit big enough for one real order.What a sandbox key can and cannot do
A minted account is provisional. It has no wallet and needs none: sandbox orders skip funding entirely. It isn’t a signup either — no email required, nothing sent, no live account created.
Who this is for
- Agent builders — get to a working order in the first session, decide later whether to open an account.
- Platform and framework authors — ship a Zinc integration your users can try with zero configuration.
- Anyone evaluating Zinc — exercise the real API surface, including the failure paths, before talking to us.
zn_test_ key in the dashboard and read Sandbox & Testing instead. The agent sandbox exists for the case where there’s no account yet.
Where the docs live
Next steps
Quickstart
Zero to a delivered sandbox order in a few seconds.
Going Live
Get approved, collect a live key, place a real order.