> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kwugwo.africa/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Accept payments across Africa's PSPs with Kwugwo API.

**One API for all PSPs.** Wire up Kwugwo once and accept payments through every Payment Service Provider you can plug into your workspace; Paystack today, more soon. You configure the PSPs and the routing rules from the dashboard; the API stays the same.

Customers pay through local mediums (**bank transfers**, **mobile money**, and **USSD**), and Kwugwo routes each charge to the right PSP behind the scenes.

This reference documents the **merchant-facing REST API** under the `/v1` namespace. Every request is authenticated with a secret API key that you generate from your dashboard.

## Environments

Kwugwo runs two completely isolated environments. Use **sandbox** while you build (its transactions never settle real money), and flip to **live** when you're ready to take real payments.

| Environment | Base URL                            | When to use                                                                         |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Sandbox** | `https://sandbox-api.kwugwo.africa` | Development, automated tests, and exploring the API. Settles against PSP test mode. |
| **Live**    | `https://api.kwugwo.africa`         | Real customers, real money.                                                         |

Each environment has its own API keys, its own workspaces, and its own ledger of customers, ugwos, and webhooks; **data does not cross the boundary**. A sandbox ugwo uid is not fetchable with a live key and vice versa. See [Authentication](/authentication) for how each key tier maps to an environment.

<Note>
  Every example on this site uses the **live** base URL for readability. To run a snippet against sandbox, swap `api.kwugwo.africa` for `sandbox-api.kwugwo.africa` and use your sandbox key.
</Note>

## Start here

<Card title="Embed our checkout (recommended)" icon="rocket" href="/checkout-embed">
  Drop the Kwugwo overlay onto your site in five lines of JavaScript: no PCI scope, no iframe plumbing, every payment medium we support without writing any new client code. **This is the fastest path to a working integration.**
</Card>

Prefer to build your own checkout UI? Use the API directly:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Charge customers" icon="credit-card" href="/ugwo/create">
    Create an `ugwo` (a payment request) and process it against a medium of your choice.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Manage customers" icon="users" href="/customers/create">
    Store and update customer records (`onye`) and attach metadata, references, and billing addresses.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Read your checkouts" icon="window" href="/checkouts/list">
    Read the checkout configurations you built in the dashboard and surface the supported mediums to your customers.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Track activities" icon="list-check" href="/ugwo/list-activities">
    Every charge on an `ugwo` is recorded as an activity that you can poll until it reaches a terminal state.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## A note on naming

Kwugwo borrows a few terms from African languages. They are short, distinct, and easy to grep for in your codebase:

| Term       | Meaning                              |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------ |
| **Ugwo**   | A payment request; what you charge.  |
| **Onye**   | A customer / payer.                  |
| **Nzube**  | A workspace (your merchant account). |
| **Kwugwo** | "Pay the debt"; the brand.           |

See [Concepts](/concepts) for the full glossary and how the resources relate.

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Authentication" icon="key" href="/authentication">
    How to send your secret key and what each key tier can do.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Webhook deliveries" icon="bolt" href="/webhook-deliveries">
    How Kwugwo notifies you when an ugwo or activity changes, and how to verify the signature.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>