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Introduction

Ion is Northwind Cloud's payments API: charges, saved payment methods, subscriptions, and refunds across 135+ currencies, with PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant card vaulting so you never need to handle raw card numbers on your own servers.

Test mode vs. live mode​

Every Ion account has separate test and live API keys (prefixed sk_test_ and sk_live_). Test-mode charges use the same API and validation rules as live mode but never move real money — build and test your entire integration in test mode, including failure paths, before switching keys.

Key features​

  • 135+ currencies and local payment methods
  • PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant card vaulting — card numbers never touch your servers
  • Usage-based and subscription billing with automatic dunning on failed renewals

Before you start​

Read Concepts — in particular how amounts are represented as integers and how idempotency keys work — before writing any charge-creation code. Both are easy to get wrong once and expensive to get wrong in production.