# Helix-Pay Quickstart Guide: Your First Payment in Minutes

This guide will walk you through the process of making your first payment using Helix-Pay, from registration to your first successful transaction.  Let's get started!

br
**Step 1: Register for a Helix-Pay Account**

Before you begin, you'll need a Helix-Pay account.  Head over to our registration page and create your free account:

[https://portal.helix-pay.net/register](https://portal.helix-pay.net/register)

Complete the registration form with your details.  You'll receive a confirmation email once your account is set up.

br
**Step 2: Create a Sandbox Environment**

For testing and development purposes, we strongly recommend using our sandbox environment. This allows you to test your integrations without impacting real transactions.

Once logged in, navigate to your dashboard and locate the section for creating sandbox environments.  You'll be provided with a unique API key.  **Treat this key as you would a password – keep it secure and never share it publicly.**  This key will be crucial for making API calls.

br
**Step 3: Make a Test Payment**

You can initiate a test payment in two ways:

br
**Method A: Using the Helix-Pay UI (Simplest Method)**

Within your Helix-Pay dashboard's sandbox environment, you'll find options to manually create test payments via the Payment Link functionality.  This is the easiest way to quickly see how payments are processed.  Follow the on-screen instructions to create a sample payment.

br
**Method B: Using the API (For Developers)**

For programmatic integration, use your API key to make a POST request to the `/payments` endpoint. You will need to include the necessary payment details in your request.  Refer to our API documentation for detailed information on required parameters and request formats:

[Link to API Reference - Payments Endpoint](/apis/external.gen#payments)

A sample cURL request might look like this (replace placeholders with actual values):


```bash
curl -X POST \
  https://api.helix-pay.net/v1/payments \
  -H 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "amount": 1000,  //Amount in cents
    "currency": "USD",
    "description": "Payment for order #1234"
  }'
```

br
**Step 4: Test with Pre-configured Test Cards**

To ensure your integration works correctly, use the following test card details.  These cards are specifically designed to simulate various payment scenarios within the sandbox environment.

[Link to Test Card Numbers](/guides/payments#test-cards)

br
**Step 5: Listen to payment status updates (optional)**

We will send events each time a payment is updated. If you want to listen to these events, you can set up a webhook in the environment settings of the dashboard.

Here is an example webhook event you can expect to receive:


```json
{
  "id": "evt_3bbb4fe7-4c25-45b2-a363-c8db8c0084b9",
  "name": "payment.succeeded",
  "data": {
    "amount": 1000,
    "checkout_url": "https://checkout.helix-pay.net/checkout/pay_3bbb4fe7-4c25-45b2-a363-c8db8c0084b9",
    "created_at": "2025-01-16T00:00:00.00000Z",
    "currency": "EUR",
    "description": "Payment for order #1989188",
    "id": "pay_3bbb4fe7-4c25-45b2-a363-c8db8c0084b9",
    "payment_method_code": "CARD",
    "payment_status_code": "SUCCESS",
    "return_urls": {
      "failure": "https://example.com/payments/failure",
      "success": "https://example.com/payments/success",
    },
    "test_mode": false,
    "updated_at": "2025-01-16T00:00:00.00000Z"
  }
}
```



**Next Steps:**

Once you've successfully completed a test payment, you can proceed to integrate Helix-Pay into your application using the comprehensive guides in the rest of our documentation.  Remember to switch to your live environment once your integration is thoroughly tested.

Remember to replace placeholders like `YOUR_API_KEY` and test card details with your actual values.  If you encounter any issues, please consult our detailed documentation or contact our support team.