Quickstart

Create your first charge and walk through the full payment flow in sandbox mode. This takes one API call and a browser tab.

1. Get a test API key

Every merchant account has a sandbox secret key in the dashboard, prefixed sk_test_. Use it for everything in this guide — test keys never move real money.

2. Create a charge

Send a POST request with an amount and whatever customer details you already have. Only amount is required.

Terminal

curl -X POST https://sandbox.lotifinance.com/v1/charges/ \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_test_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "amount": 5000,
    "currency": "XAF",
    "description": "Order #1234",
    "customer_email": "jane@example.com"
  }'

You'll get back a charge object:

201 Created

{
  "id": "a1b2c3d4-...",
  "status": "pending",
  "amount": 5000,
  "currency": "XAF",
  "description": "Order #1234",
  "customer_email": "jane@example.com",
  "checkout_url": "https://pay.lotifinance.com/c/a1b2c3d4-...",
  "created_at": "2026-10-02T10:15:00Z",
  "expires_at": "2026-10-02T10:45:00Z",
  "completed_at": null
}

3. Redirect to checkout

Send your customer to checkout_url. This is a hosted page — you don't need to build or style anything:

redirect.js

window.location.href = charge.checkout_url;

Checkout links expire

A charge's checkout_url is valid for 30 minutes from creation. After that the charge moves to expired and a new charge must be created.

4. Know when it's done

There are two ways to find out the final result — use whichever fits your stack:

Webhook (recommended): we POST a signed charge.completed event to your server the moment payment succeeds. See /docs/webhooks.
Polling: GET /v1/charges/{id}/ and check status.

Terminal

curl https://sandbox.lotifinance.com/v1/charges/a1b2c3d4-.../ \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_test_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Possible values for status (the request itself always returns 200 OK — only the field inside the body changes):

pendingprocessingcompletedfailedcancelledexpired

That's the whole flow. Next: read /docs/authentication for how keys and environments work, or jump straight to the full /docs/charges reference.

Introduction

Authentication