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Every key works in one mode, shown by its prefix and by livemode on every object it creates or reads.

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Getting test keys

Test mode is turned on agency by agency. To start, ask your Bridgeline contact to enable test mode for your agency. Once it’s on, an agency admin creates a test key in the Bridgeline portal under API Keys, the same way as a live key: name, type, default broker, scopes and an optional expiry. Test mode doesn’t depend on live access, so you can build against test keys before your agency goes live. If test mode isn’t on, a test key gets 403 TEST_MODE_NOT_ENABLED, and so does creating one in the portal. Live keys aren’t affected either way.

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What test mode does

  • Same API. The same endpoints and the same shapes; only the key changes. Every object carries livemode: false.
  • Real answers. Test quotes use the real rules and real pricing, so the eligibility and options you see in test are the ones you’d get in live.
  • No real-world effects. A test quote’s hosted_url opens a real interactive quote, marked “Test mode” so nobody mistakes it for an offer. If someone taps I’m interested on it, the response is recorded, but nobody is emailed or notified.
  • Separate data. Test quotes live alongside your live ones but never mix: reading a live quote with a test key, or the reverse, is a 404.
  • Separate limits. Test quotes have their own daily allowance, 200 per key and 500 per agency, so building never eats into live quoting. The 60 requests a minute per key applies in both modes. See rate limits.

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Test helpers

Test helpers are endpoints that act out what a person would do, so you can exercise your whole integration without a phone in hand. They work only with a test key; a live key gets 403 TEST_MODE_ONLY. After the call, the quote reads back exactly as it would after a real response, so the code that checks for one runs unchanged.

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Building with a live key

If your agency has live access but not test mode yet, live keys are safe to build with. A quote has no effect outside Bridgeline: it prices the deal and stores the result. Nothing reaches your client unless you send them the link, and nobody is emailed unless someone taps I’m interested on that link. A stray quote expires on its own after 30 days. Quotes you create while building count toward your agency’s live daily quote limit, and they appear in our records as real quotes from your agency. Use realistic test data rather than a real client’s details while you build.

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Demo agencies

Separately from test mode, Bridgeline runs some agencies as demo agencies: whole pretend brokerages used for sales demonstrations and our own testing. On a demo agency’s quotes, business rules that would make a deal ineligible become DEMO_BYPASSED_<code> warnings instead, so a demonstration always shows options; the interactive page is labeled “Example quote”; and interest emails go only to internal Bridgeline addresses (broker_notification.reason: "demo_agency" when none applied). In one sentence each: test mode is a sandbox inside a real agency, with real rules. A demo agency is a sandbox agency, with relaxed rules.