Sandbox Environment

Use a sandbox key (bh_test_*) to test your integration without sending real WhatsApp messages or consuming message credits.

The /v1/whatsapp/send endpoint returns a simulated success response when called with a sandbox key:


{
  "sandbox": true,
  "message_id": "sandbox_1740222000000",
  "status": "simulated",
  "note": "This is a sandbox response. No real message was sent.",
  "to": "+254700000000",
  "template": "order_confirmation"
}

The phone numbers and templates endpoints behave identically in both environments — they return your real data so you can build against actual phone number IDs and template names.

Key differences in sandbox mode

Feature	Sandbox (`bh_test_*`)	Production (`bh_live_*`)
Messages sent	No	Yes
Credits consumed	No	Yes
Phone numbers endpoint	Real data	Real data
Templates endpoint	Real data	Real data
Send response	Simulated	Real Meta response
Webhooks	Not triggered	Triggered

Creating a sandbox key

Go to Settings → API Keys → Create key in your dashboard and select Sandbox as the environment.