Sandbox

There is one Mr Charles API. You do not get a separate host to develop against; instead, a studio site can be in sandbox mode, and you build against that.

A sandbox site answers every endpoint exactly like a live one — same payloads, same prices, same conflict rules, same errors — with four differences:

Live site	Sandbox site
The verification code is sent by SMS or email	The code comes back in the hold response as devCode
Guest and studio get confirmations, reminders, cancellations	Nothing is sent to anyone
Rooms may accept card deposits	Rooms are on_site only; stripePublishableKey is absent
Bookings are real	Bookings and holds are purged after 7 days

You can tell which one you are talking to: the site payload carries "site": { "sandbox": true }, and the hosted site shows a yellow banner on every page.

Which sandbox to use

The platform’s demo studio — demo-studio — is permanently in sandbox mode, has two bookable rooms with opening hours seven days a week, and is what the examples in these docs use:

curl -s https://api.mrcharles.app/api/v1/public/sites/demo-studio

Your own studio’s site — any studio can flip its site to sandbox from the dashboard (Studio → Web del estudio → Modo pruebas). Do this to test with the real rooms, prices and hours before launch, then switch it off. While it is on, the site tells visitors it is in test mode and refuses card payments, so nobody can book for real by accident.

The flow in sandbox

import { createClient } from '@mrcharles/sdk';
const mc = createClient();
const flow = mc.roomBooking({ slug: 'demo-studio', roomId });

await flow.loadSite();                      // site.site.sandbox === true
await flow.loadAvailability();
const hold = await flow.hold({ date, startTime, durationMinutes, guestName: 'Test', channel: 'email', contact: '[email protected]' });
await flow.verify(hold.devCode);            // the code you would have received
await flow.confirm({ paymentMode: 'on_site' });

Nothing above reaches a phone, an inbox or a card. Rate limits still apply (5 holds per contact and 20 per IP per hour), so vary the contact when you loop.

Going live

Change the slug. That is the whole migration: the host, the endpoints, the SDK and your code stay the same. Then check the two things that only exist on a live site:

• captchaSiteKey — present on every site outside local development, sandbox included; attach a Turnstile token (action hold) to every hold (Bot protection).
• stripePublishableKey and card in room.paymentModes — if the studio takes deposits, test the Payment Element with Stripe’s test cards on your own site in sandbox-off state before publishing, or ask us for a Stripe test session.

What sandbox is not

It is not a copy of the platform. Studios, teachers and bookings you see are real production data; the demo studio and your own sandbox site are the only things that behave differently. Do not store anything you would mind losing in a sandbox booking — the purge is not negotiable.