Quick start

Sign up for Moov

Sign up in the Moov Dashboard. You need Moov administrator or developer permissions for the steps on this page. After you sign up, you can sign in with a passkey from your browser, password manager, phone, or a USB security key.

You start in test mode. Your test account comes with sample accounts and data, and every capability is already enabled, so you can take payments right away.

You're ready when the account switcher in the top left of the Dashboard shows your test account.

Create an API key

Skip this step if you're only using the Dashboard.

In the Dashboard, go to Developers and click New API key. Test mode and production mode each have their own keys.

1. Name the key after what it's for.
2. Copy the public key and secret key and store them somewhere secure. You can't view the secret key again.
3. Add the domains you'll call the API from. You can skip this for now; server-side calls with Basic authentication don't need it.

Make your first call. The API examples on this page use Basic authentication from your terminal (-u "{publicKey}:{secretKey}"). List the accounts connected to your test account with the list accounts endpoint:

curl -X GET "https://api.moov.io/accounts" \
  -u "{publicKey}:{secretKey}" \
  -H "X-Moov-Version: v2026.07.00"

You're ready when the response is a 200 with a list of sample accounts. A 401 means the key pair is wrong. Before you call the API from a browser or mobile app, read authenticate API requests to set up access tokens.

You also need your partner account ID for API calls. In the Dashboard, open Settings; the ID appears below your account name and logo.

Create a payment link

A payment link is a Moov-hosted checkout page, so you can take a payment without building any UI. For this first payment, your own test account is the merchant and the funds land in its Moov wallet.

curl -X GET "https://api.moov.io/accounts/{partnerAccountID}/payment-methods?paymentMethodType=moov-wallet" \
  -u "{publicKey}:{secretKey}" \
  -H "X-Moov-Version: v2026.07.00"

curl -X POST "https://api.moov.io/accounts/{partnerAccountID}/payment-links" \
  -u "{publicKey}:{secretKey}" \
  -H "X-Moov-Version: v2026.07.00" \
  -d '{
    "partnerAccountID": "{partnerAccountID}",
    "merchantPaymentMethodID": "{walletPaymentMethodID}",
    "amount": { "currency": "USD", "value": 2500 },
    "display": {
      "title": "Whole Body Fitness",
      "description": "Drop-in class",
      "callToAction": "pay"
    },
    "payment": { "allowedMethods": ["card-payment"] }
  }'

You're ready when you have a link in the form https://moov.link/p/{code}. In the API response, it's the link field, and status is active.

Pay with a test card

Open the link in your browser and pay with a test card:

You're ready when the checkout page confirms the payment. To test a decline, pay a new link with a declined test card. The test mode guide lists every test card and trigger amount.

Confirm the payment

Paying the link created a card transfer from the test card to your wallet.

curl -X GET "https://api.moov.io/accounts/{partnerAccountID}/transfers?paymentLinkCode={code}" \
  -u "{publicKey}:{secretKey}" \
  -H "X-Moov-Version: v2026.07.00"

You're done when the transfer shows source.cardDetails.status confirmed, meaning the issuer approved the charge. The transfer status changes to completed when the funds settle to your wallet. In production, subscribe to webhooks such as transfer.updated instead of polling.

Onboard a connected account

Your platform takes payments on behalf of other businesses, so the next step is to onboard one. Hosted onboarding sends the account owner a link to a secure, branded page where they enter their own details, link a bank account, and accept Moov's platform agreement and your fee plan. Their personal information goes straight to Moov, so you don't store it.

Before you create the link, decide:

• Capabilities: what the account can do, such as collect-funds.card-payments and wallet.balance to accept cards. Request only what the account needs, because each capability adds verification requirements. See capabilities.
• Scopes: what you and the account can do on each other's behalf. See connected accounts.
• Fee plan: the pricing the account agrees to. See plan options. With the API, list your plans with the list fee plans endpoint and pass the plan's planID in feePlanCodes.

curl -X POST "https://api.moov.io/onboarding-invites" \
  -u "{publicKey}:{secretKey}" \
  -H "X-Moov-Version: v2026.07.00" \
  -d '{
    "returnURL": "https://mycompany.com/account",
    "termsOfServiceURL": "https://mycompany.com/terms-of-service",
    "scopes": ["accounts.read", "capabilities.read", "transfers.read", "transfers.write"],
    "grantScopes": ["accounts.read", "capabilities.read", "transfers.read", "transfers.write"],
    "capabilities": ["collect-funds.card-payments", "wallet.balance"],
    "feePlanCodes": ["b6134307-8922-4a72-bf3c-d0297bbe8a35"],
    "prefill": {
      "accountType": "business",
      "profile": {
        "business": {
          "legalBusinessName": "Whole Body Fitness LLC",
          "businessType": "llc",
          "email": "amanda@wbfgym.dev"
        }
      }
    }
  }'

You're done when the new account's capabilities show status: enabled, in the account's page in the Dashboard or with the list capabilities endpoint. To take a payment for the new account, repeat steps 3 to 5 with its account ID and wallet.

To onboard accounts inside your own app instead of sending a link, use the onboarding Drop. See create accounts to compare every onboarding method.