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Sandbox vs Production

Key differences between sandbox and production APIs

Info
Understanding the differences between Sandbox and Production environments is crucial for proper development workflow and cost management.

Quick Comparison

Sandbox Environment
Mock data responses
No billing or charges
Safe for testing
Fast responses
Not for production use
Production Environment
Real breach intelligence
Live data updates
Production-ready
Consumes balance
Variable response times

Detailed Comparison

Feature
Sandbox
Production
Base URL/api/v1/sandbox/*/api/v1/public/*
Data SourceMock DataReal Breaches
AuthenticationRequiredRequired
Rate Limits300/min300/min
BillingFreeCharged
Response Time~50ms100-2000ms
Data FreshnessStaticLive Updates
Result AccuracyMockReal Intelligence

When to Use Each Environment

Use Sandbox For

Development & Testing

Build and debug your integration

Learning the API

Understand data structures and responses

Client Demos

Show functionality without real data

CI/CD Pipelines

Automated testing without costs

Load Testing

Test performance without billing

Use Production For

Live Applications

Production workloads with real users

Security Investigations

Real breach intelligence research

Compliance Monitoring

Ongoing breach monitoring

Threat Intelligence

Current breach data analysis

Customer Notifications

Alert users about real breaches

Key Differences in Detail

Data Quality & Source

Sandbox

  • • Generated mock data with realistic patterns
  • • Consistent, predictable responses
  • • Fixed breach dates and sources
  • • No personally identifiable information
  • • Same data structure as production

Production

  • • Real breach data from actual incidents
  • • Continuously updated database
  • • Variable result sets based on query
  • • Contains sensitive information
  • • Billions of real breach records
Billing & Cost Management

Sandbox

  • • No charges or billing
  • • Mock balance responses ($25.00)
  • • Mock usage statistics
  • • Unlimited testing (within rate limits)
  • • Perfect for development budgets

Production

  • • Charged per row returned
  • • Real balance deduction
  • • Actual usage tracking
  • • Cost optimization important
  • • Subscription plans and limits
Performance Characteristics

Sandbox

  • • Ultra-fast responses (~50ms)
  • • No database queries
  • • Consistent performance
  • • Ideal for rapid development
  • • No infrastructure scaling needed

Production

  • • Variable response times (100-2000ms)
  • • Complex database operations
  • • Performance depends on query complexity
  • • Optimized for accuracy over speed
  • • Auto-scaling infrastructure

Transitioning from Sandbox to Production

Moving from development to production is designed to be seamless. Here's what you need to change:

1. Update Base URL

From (Sandbox):

https://api.leakzero.io/api/v1/sandbox/search/regular

To (Production):

https://api.leakzero.io/api/v1/public/search/regular
2. Verify Account Balance
3. Update Error Handling

Production may return different error patterns than sandbox:

  • • Insufficient balance errors
  • • Rate limit variations under load
  • • Data-dependent validation errors
  • • Network timeout handling
4. Monitor Usage & Costs

Set up monitoring for production usage to track costs and performance:

  • • Regular balance checks
  • • Usage pattern analysis
  • • Cost optimization opportunities
  • • Performance monitoring

Best Practices

Development Workflow
1Start development with Sandbox
2Test all features thoroughly
3Validate error handling
4Performance test with Sandbox
5Switch to Production for final testing
6Deploy with Production URLs
Configuration Management

Use environment variables to manage endpoints:

# Development
API_BASE_URL=https://api.leakzero.io/api/v1/sandbox

# Production
API_BASE_URL=https://api.leakzero.io/api/v1/public
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