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Every API key is either live (sk_live_) or test (sk_test_). Test keys let you build and run automated tests without a verified domain, without spending your allowance and without a real inbox.

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What a test key does

  • Runs every validation and compliance check, so a bad request fails exactly as it would in production.
  • Returns an id (em_…, sm_…) and "mode": "test" in the send response.
  • Stores the message: it appears in the dashboard Logs with a test badge and GET /v1/emails/{id} returns it with status sent and a queued and sent event.
  • Never enqueues, never contacts Amazon SES or a mobile network, never debits credits and never counts against your monthly allowance.
  • Skips the verified-domain, suppression and allowance checks, since nothing is delivered. Attachments are validated and described but not stored.

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What a test key does not do

  • Deliver anything. To reach an inbox, use a live key.
  • Produce delivery webhooks. A test send emits no email.delivered or email.bounced events. To exercise your webhook handler, use Send test event on the Webhooks page or POST /v1/webhooks/{id}/test.

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Sending before your domain is verified

A test key never delivers. To see a real email arrive before you have a verified domain, send with a live key from the shared test address onboarding@sendbaze.com to your own sign-in email. It only delivers to your organisation’s own addresses (members and the billing email) and to the simulator addresses below, and each organisation gets 100 such emails in total. See send before your domain is verified.

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Simulated addresses

With a live key you can test delivery outcomes without a real mailbox using the Amazon SES simulator addresses. They count as sends but never reach a person, and they are allowed from the shared test address too:
Do not send complaint simulations in bulk: they count toward the complaint rate that can pause your organisation.
  • Local development and CI: sk_test_ key.
  • First real delivery, before DNS: a live key from onboarding@sendbaze.com to your own address.
  • Staging: a live key on a staging subdomain such as staging.yourshop.co.za, sending to the simulator addresses and your own team.
  • Production: a live key with the narrowest scopes you need.