# Create an account

Sign up, verify your email, generate your test keys, and find your way around the sandbox.

A AdProMaxPay account starts in the **sandbox**: you sign up, verify your email address, and generate
your test keys yourself. There is nothing to send us and nothing to wait for until you want to take
real payments.

## Sign up

Open [the sign-up page](https://pay.adpromax.com/auth/signup) and give:

* your first name and last name;
* your email address;
* a password that meets the rules shown on the form;
* your organization's name: the name of your business;
* your agreement to the terms.

## What sign-up creates

One step creates your place on AdProMaxPay:

* **Your user account**: the person who signs in.
* **An organization**: your business on AdProMaxPay. Every payment, customer, API key, webhook endpoint
  and team member belongs to exactly one organization. Its ID starts with `org_`.
* **Your seat as its Owner**: the role that can do everything, including inviting your team.

It creates no API key. You generate your test keys yourself, once your email is verified: a secret
key exists only because you asked for it, and you are the only one who ever sees it.

The organization works in Morocco, in Moroccan dirhams (MAD), on Morocco time (the time zone
`Africa/Casablanca`, which cannot change). Its language is French until you change it, under
**Settings → Organization**.

Its status is `sandbox`: the `activation_status` you read in [`GET /v1/account`](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/get-started/api-keys).
It stays `sandbox` until your account is activated for live payments.

## Verify your email

Sign-up sends a 6-digit code to your email address and opens the page **Check your email**. Type the
code there, then *Verify email*. Your sandbox opens once the code is accepted: until then, the
dashboard shows only this page.

* The code works for 15 minutes, and for five tries.
* Nothing in your inbox? Look in your spam folder, or use *Send a new code*: after a minute, and up
  to ten times a day. A new code replaces the one before it.
* Signed out before typing it? Sign in again: the same page opens.
* Wrong address? *Sign out and start again* with the right one.

Invited into an organization? The link in the invitation already proved your address: there is no
code to type.

## Your sandbox is ready

Once your email is verified, the page **Your sandbox is ready** offers *Generate my test secret
key*. Generate it when you are ready to store it:

* the **test secret key**, `apx_sk_test_…`, is shown **this once**. Copy it into your secret store
  or your server's environment, then tick "I've stored this key safely" to enable *Done*;
* the **publishable key**, `apx_pk_test_…`, comes with it. You can see it again at any time on the
  API keys page.

*I'll do it later* skips the step: you can create your keys at any time under
**Developers → API keys**.

Then *Open your dashboard* takes you to your organization in test mode, and *Read the quickstart*
opens the [card quickstart](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/get-started/quickstart-card). Your first request is in
[Your API keys](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/get-started/api-keys).

Lost the secret key before storing it? AdProMaxPay keeps only a fingerprint of it and cannot show it
again. Create another one under **Developers → API keys**, then revoke the first. An organization
holds 2 active secret keys and 2 publishable keys per mode by default.

## Test mode in the dashboard

While you work in test mode, the dashboard says so in several places at once:

* a **Test mode** banner under the top bar;
* a striped edge along the navigation;
* `/test/` in the page's address;
* `[TEST]` at the start of the tab's title;
* a TEST chip next to every ID.

The live side of the mode switch stays disabled, with "Live payments open after activation". What
activation asks for, and what to check before you switch, is in the
[Go-live checklist](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/get-started/go-live).

## Protect your sign-in

Two-step verification adds a code from an authenticator app to your password. It is optional in the
sandbox and recommended from the first day; it will be required to go live. See
[Security](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/account/security).

## More than one business

An organization is one business. For a second business, open the organization switcher at the top of
the navigation and choose *Create organization*. Each organization has its own keys, data, team,
limits and activation, and nothing crosses from one to another. A new organization starts with no
key, like your first one: create them under **Developers → API keys**.

* You can own up to 20 organizations.
* You can also be a member of other organizations, when an Owner or an Administrator there invites
  you.
* The switcher moves you from one to another and keeps the section you are in: from an
  organization's payments to the other's payments.

To bring your colleagues in, see [Team and roles](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/account/team-and-roles).

## Your organization ID

You need your organization's ID (`org_…`) when you write to support or set up a tool. Find it:

* in the organization switcher, with *Copy organization ID*;
* under **Settings → Organization**;
* as `id` in the answer of `GET /v1/account`.

**Settings → Organization** also holds **Delete all test data**, in test mode only: it removes your
test payments, customers and the rest of your test objects, and keeps your keys and your team.

## Next steps

* [Your API keys](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/get-started/api-keys): send your first request.
* [Quickstart: card payments with hosted checkout](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/get-started/quickstart-card).
* [Quickstart: cash payments](https://pay-docs.adpromax.com/en/get-started/quickstart-cash).