Environments and keys

Pick an environment

	Demo	Sandbox	Production
Key	None	ck_test_…	ck_live_…
Data	Fictional patients	Synthetic patients you create	Real patients who consent
Base URL	https://api.finchnode.com/demo/v1	https://api.finchnode.com/api/v1	https://api.finchnode.com/api/v1
Health systems	None	Synthetic health systems	Real ones
Get it	Nothing to set up	Create an application	Turn on production for the application

A key belongs to one application and one environment. A sandbox key reads only sandbox connections, and a production key reads only production connections. A production key asking for a sandbox subject gets 410 consent_inactive. GET /app and every Connect session report their environment.

Keep keys on your server

Send the key as a bearer token from your backend:

Authorization: Bearer $FINCHNODE_API_KEY

• Never put a key in a browser, mobile app, URL, or log.
• Store it in a secret manager, not in source control.
• The console shows a new key once and keeps only a hash, so copy it when you create it.

Rotate a key

Create a new key in the console, deploy it, then revoke the old one. Both work until you revoke the old key, so you can switch without downtime.

Go to production

An application can turn on production when its settings are complete:

• a specific purpose, shown to patients on the consent screen
• at least one data category
• how long your app keeps the records it imports
• a privacy policy URL
• a webhook URL

Creating the first production (ck_live_) key turns production on. If a setting is missing, the console lists what to add. While a conformance run is open, and for about a minute after one ends, the console won't turn production on, and says why. Your plan sets how many applications can be live at once; see pricing.

Production doesn't require a conformance run, but one checks your integration against the sandbox before your first production key.

Response headers

Header	Tells you
X-Request-Id	The request's ID. Include it when you contact support.
FinchNode-Version	The response contract version.
RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, RateLimit-Reset	Your remaining budget. See Rate limits.
Cache-Control: private, no-store	Sandbox and production responses can contain health information, so browsers and proxies must not store them.

Suspension

FinchNode can suspend an application for policy violations. Live keys then stop working, new production sessions are refused, and sandbox simulation returns 403 app_suspended. Contact support to reinstate it.