What actually happens between your first sandbox call and your first issued policy.
"Integrate in a day" is a marketing phrase until you watch a partner actually do it. This is the play-by-play of a real integration — anonymised, but the timestamps are real.
Hour 0–1: sandbox key and first call
Signup is self-serve. The sandbox key is available the moment the account exists, and the first successful API call — a motor quote for a 2026 Camry — happened eleven minutes in. No sales call, no scoping workshop.
Hour 1–6: the quote surface
The partner's engineers wired our price list into their checkout: one request, a list of offers from the licensed panel, each with plan, provider and annual premium. The UI work is theirs; the data shape makes it a mapping exercise, not a project.
Hour 6–12: purchase and issuance
Purchasing a policy is a second call with the chosen offer and the customer's details the platform already holds. In sandbox, issuance is simulated with the same payload production returns — policy number, certificate URL, commission line.
The best integration questions we got all day were about their UI, not our API. That's the goal.
Hour 12–24: production approval
While engineering finished, the business side completed the agreement — signed and stamped electronically in the portal. Production keys were approved before the next morning's standup. First real policy: 26 hours after signup.