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Sandbox

What is the Sandbox?

The Deel API Sandbox is a completely isolated testing environment that mirrors production functionality without affecting real data, triggering actual payments, or creating legal contracts. It’s pre-populated with sample data so you can start testing immediately.

  • Safe Testing: Test without real money, contracts, or legal implications.
  • Pre-populated Data: Use sample contracts, workers, and organizations right away.
  • Full API Access: Experiment with all production endpoints in a safe environment.
  • Isolated Environment: Keep test data and actions completely separate from production.

Sandbox vs Production

FeatureSandboxProduction
Base URLhttps://api-sandbox.demo.deel.com/rest/v2https://api.letsdeel.com/rest/v2
DataPre-populated sample dataReal business data
PaymentsSimulated (no real money moves)Real payments processed
ContractsTest contracts (not legally binding)Legal contracts created
Rate LimitsSame as productionSame as production
AuthenticationSeparate API keysSeparate API keys

Sandbox and Production use different API keys. Never use production keys in sandbox or vice versa.

Pre-populated Sample Data

Your sandbox comes with ready-to-use data for testing:

Sample Workers

The sandbox includes pre-created workers across different contract types:

  • John Smith - Full-time employee in United States

    • Contract ID: eor_123456
    • Status: Active
    • Salary: $85,000/year

  • Maria Garcia - Full-time employee in Spain

    • Contract ID: eor_789012
    • Status: Active
    • Salary: €45,000/year

  • Wei Chen - Full-time employee in Singapore

    • Contract ID: eor_345678
    • Status: Onboarding
    • Salary: SGD 72,000/year

  • Sarah Johnson - Hourly contractor in Canada

    • Contract ID: ic_111222
    • Status: Active
    • Rate: $95/hour

  • Ahmed Hassan - Fixed-price contractor in UAE

    • Contract ID: ic_333444
    • Status: Active
    • Project Rate: $5,000/milestone

  • Lisa Park - Pay-as-you-go contractor in South Korea

    • Contract ID: ic_555666
    • Status: Active
    • Rate: ₩120,000/hour

  • Acme Corporation (Main Org)

    • Org ID: org_main_001
    • Legal Entity: Acme Inc. (Delaware, USA)
    • 15 active workers

  • Acme EMEA (Child Org)

    • Org ID: org_emea_001
    • Parent: Acme Corporation
    • 8 active workers

Test Credentials

Use these test workers to simulate different scenarios:

1// Test user credentials for webhook testing
2{
3  "worker_id": "test_worker_001",
4  "email": "test.worker@deel-sandbox.com",
5  "status": "active"
6}
7
8// Test organization admin
9{
10  "admin_id": "test_admin_001",
11  "email": "admin@deel-sandbox.com",
12  "organization": "org_main_001"
13}

How Sandbox Differs from Production

Payments & Invoicing

  • Sandbox: All payments are simulated. Invoice status changes to “paid” without actual fund transfers
  • Production: Real money is transferred; payment failures are real

Contract Signing

  • Sandbox: E-signatures are simulated; documents are generated but not legally binding
  • Production: Real DocuSign/SignNow integration; legally binding contracts

Webhooks

  • Sandbox: Webhooks fire normally; test webhook events in isolated environment
  • Production: Webhooks trigger real business logic

Background Checks & Verifications

  • Sandbox: Always return success/approved status after 30 seconds
  • Production: Real third-party checks (Veriff, Sterling, etc.)

Email Notifications

  • Sandbox: Emails are not sent to workers; check via API only
  • Production: Real emails sent to workers and admins

Testing Common Scenarios

$# Create a new contractor agreement in sandbox
>curl -X POST "https://api-sandbox.demo.deel.com/rest/v2/contracts" \
>  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SANDBOX_API_KEY" \
>  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
>  -d '{
>    "client_id": "org_main_001",
>    "worker_email": "new.contractor@example.com",
>    "job_title": "Backend Developer",
>    "scope": "Software Development",
>    "rate": 100,
>    "rate_type": "hourly"
>  }'

Resetting Sandbox Data

You can reset your sandbox environment to start fresh:

  1. Go to Developer Center → API Sandbox
  2. Click Reset Sandbox Data
  3. Confirm the reset

Resetting will delete all test data you’ve created and restore the original pre-populated sample data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! There are no limits on the number of test contracts, workers, or organizations you can create in sandbox. However, rate limits still apply to prevent abuse.

No. Sandbox contracts remain active indefinitely unless you manually terminate them or reset your sandbox environment.

Yes. You can create contracts in any supported country and test multi-currency payments. All conversions use real exchange rates but no actual money moves.

Use the webhook testing endpoint to simulate different webhook scenarios including failures, retries, and timeouts. See Webhook Simulation for details.

Each sandbox is tied to one set of credentials. For team testing, either share the sandbox credentials securely or create multiple sandboxes (one per developer).

Yes, your sandbox data persists until you manually reset it. Changes you make remain between sessions.

Next Steps

Authentication

Learn how to authenticate sandbox API requests

Webhooks

Learn more about webhooks

Sample Apps

Clone pre-built apps configured for sandbox

API Reference

Explore all available endpoints