# Quick Start Guide
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/quick-start-guide/index.md

## Overview {#overview}

Use this guide to go from account setup to your first successful Sandbox request for Transaction Notifications. You will create a project, generate credentials, make a test call, and prepare the same project for Production access.

### Checklist {#checklist}

|                                                                                 #                                                                                 |                       Step                        |                                                                                                           What to Do                                                                                                            |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [1](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/quick-start-guide/index.md#step-1-get-access-to-mastercard-developers)               | Get access to Mastercard Developers               | Create your account and verify your email.                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| [2](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/quick-start-guide/index.md#step-2-create-a-project-and-generate-sandbox-credentials) | Create a Project and Generate Sandbox Credentials | Create a project, add required APIs, and download keys.                                                                                                                                                                         |
| [3](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/quick-start-guide/index.md#step-3-authentication)                                    | Authentication                                    | Set up OAuth 1.0a request signing with your keys.                                                                                                                                                                               |
| [4](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/quick-start-guide/index.md#step-4-obtain-a-card-reference)                           | Obtain a Card Reference                           | Enroll a card through [Consent Management \& Enrollment](https://developer.mastercard.com/consent-management/documentation/) and record the `cardReference`.                                                                    |
| [5](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/quick-start-guide/index.md#step-5-make-your-first-sandbox-request)                   | Make your first Sandbox request                   | Send a sample `curl` request and verify the expected response.                                                                                                                                                                  |
| 6                                                                                                                                                                 | Validation                                        | Use the sample response and [Testing](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/testing/index.md) page to validate test data, positive flows, and negative flows.                                |
| 7                                                                                                                                                                 | Production                                        | After Sandbox validation is complete, use the [Onboarding Checklist](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/onboarding-checklist/index.md) to request Production access. |

### Prerequisites {#prerequisites}

For this tutorial you must ensure you have `Python` and `pip` installed on your system. If you don't already have Python installed, check out the [Python documentation](https://www.python.org/doc/).

## Step 1: Get Access to Mastercard Developers {#step-1-get-access-to-mastercard-developers}

1. Go to [Mastercard Developers](https://developer.mastercard.com/account/log-in), then log in or create an account.
2. Activate a new account by opening the link sent to your email address and log in.

## Step 2: Create a Project and Generate Sandbox Credentials {#step-2-create-a-project-and-generate-sandbox-credentials}

Create a Mastercard Developers project to generate your Sandbox credentials. Sandbox provides mocked data so that you can validate your integration before requesting Production access.

### Project Details {#project-details}

1. Click **Create new project** on your [My Projects](https://developer.mastercard.com/dashboard) page. ![Transaction Notifications Project Creation](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/project-details.png)
2. Enter a project name.
3. Indicate whether you are creating the project on behalf of a client.
4. In the **Select at least one API** field, choose **Transaction Notifications** and [Consents](https://developer.mastercard.com/consent-management/documentation) and click **Proceed**.

### Project Credentials {#project-credentials}

5. On the **Project Credentials** page, create a key alias and keystore password for your OAuth keys, record them securely, and click **Create Project**.

   ![Transaction Notifications Project Project Credentials](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/project-credentials.png)

### Additional Credentials {#additional-credentials}

6. On the **Additional Credentials** page, create a key alias and keystore password for your encryption key, record them securely, and click **Proceed**.

### Project Creation {#project-creation}

7. Once the project is created, download the key files and store in a safe place.
8. Click **Open Project** . ![Project creation confirmation with key download links](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/project-creation.png)

### Save the Values you Will Need {#save-the-values-you-will-need}

9. From the project dashboard, record the Sandbox consumer key. ![Sandbox consumer key](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/consumer-key.png)

## Step 3: Authentication {#step-3-authentication}

Mastercard uses OAuth 1.0a to authenticate your application. Mastercard provides [client authentication libraries](https://github.com/Mastercard?q=oauth) in several languages that you can integrate to your project or use as reference OAuth 1.0a implementations:

|                      |                                              ![Java](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/java.svg) **Java**                                              |                                             ![C#](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/csharp.svg) **C#**                                             |                     ![Python](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/python.svg) **Python**                     |                     ![NodeJS](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/nodejs.svg) **NodeJS**                      |                              ![Go](https://static.developer.mastercard.com/content/transaction-notifications/img/go.svg) **Go**                               |
|:--------------------:|:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------:|
| **Download/install** | [![](https://img.shields.io/maven-central/v/com.mastercard.developer/oauth1-signer.svg?style=flat&color=f99f1c&label=)](https://search.maven.org/artifact/com.mastercard.developer/oauth1-signer/) | [![](https://img.shields.io/nuget/v/Mastercard.Developer.OAuth1Signer.Core.svg?style=flat&color=f99f1c&label=)](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Mastercard.Developer.OAuth1Signer.RestSharpV2/) |  [![](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/mastercard-oauth1-signer.svg?style=flat&color=f99f1c&label=)](https://pypi.org/project/mastercard-oauth1-signer/)  | [![](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/mastercard-oauth1-signer.svg?style=flat&color=f99f1c&label=)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mastercard-oauth1-signer) | [![](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/mastercard/oauth1-signer-go.svg?style=flat&color=f99f1c&label=)](https://github.com/Mastercard/oauth1-signer-go) |
|  **View on GitHub**  |                         [![](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/mastercard/oauth1-signer-java.svg?label=&style=social)](https://github.com/Mastercard/oauth1-signer-java)                         |                     [![](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/mastercard/oauth1-signer-csharp.svg?label=&style=social)](https://github.com/Mastercard/oauth1-signer-csharp)                     | [![](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/mastercard/oauth1-signer-python.svg?label=&style=social)](https://github.com/Mastercard/oauth1-signer-python) | [![](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/mastercard/oauth1-signer-nodejs.svg?label=&style=social)](https://github.com/Mastercard/oauth1-signer-nodejs)  |        [![](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/mastercard/oauth1-signer-go.svg?label=&style=social)](https://github.com/Mastercard/oauth1-signer-go)         |

This guide uses Python to demonstrate how to use the Mastercard authentication library. For other languages, follow the README files on GitHub.

1. Install the `oauth signer` and the Python `requests` library using `pip`, via your command terminal:

   ```cmd
   pip install mastercard-oauth1-signer requests
   ```

2. Create a Python file, let's call it `transactions.py`. Once the file is created, add the following imports:

   ```python
   import requests
   from requests.auth import AuthBase
      
   import oauth1.authenticationutils as authenticationutils
   from oauth1.signer import OAuthSigner
   ```

3. Create a helper class using `AuthBase` from the `Requests` library that automatically signs all of the HTTP requests we send:

   ```python
   # MCSigner
   # Helper class for signing request objects
   class MCSigner(AuthBase):
       def __init__(self, consumer_key, signing_key):
           self.signer = OAuthSigner(consumer_key, signing_key)
      
       def __call__(self, request):
           self.signer.sign_request(request.url, request)
           return request
   ```

4. Use the `load_signing_key` function to create a signing key using the .p12 key file that you downloaded from Mastercard Developers and your keystore password:

   ```python
   signing_key = authenticationutils.load_signing_key('./path/to/projectname-sandbox.p12', 'keystorepassword')
   ```

5. Use the `MCSigner` helper class to create our HTTP request signer using the consumer key of your Mastercard Developers project:

   ```python
   base_url = 'https://sandbox.api.mastercard.com/openapis'
   consumer_key = 'consumer key'
   signer = MCSigner(consumer_key, signing_key)
   ```

We now have everything we need to authenticate a request. For a detailed overview of the OAuth 1.0a approach Mastercard uses, refer to [Using OAuth 1.0a to Access Mastercard APIs](https://developer.mastercard.com/platform/documentation/authentication/using-oauth-1a-to-access-mastercard-apis/).

## Step 4: Obtain a Card Reference {#step-4-obtain-a-card-reference}

Before you can simulate a transaction, you need a `cardReference`. You obtain this by enrolling a card to the `notification` service through the [Consent Management \& Enrollment](https://developer.mastercard.com/consent-management/documentation/) APIs. Call `POST /consents` with the card details. The response contains the `cardReference`.

Record the `cardReference` value. You must use it in the next step to identify the enrolled card in your test transaction request.

For the full enrollment flow, see the [Consent Management \& Enrollment Quick Start Guide](https://developer.mastercard.com/consent-management/documentation/quick-start-guide/).

## Step 5: Make Your First Sandbox Request {#step-5-make-your-first-sandbox-request}

Use the Sandbox base URL:

`https://sandbox.api.mastercard.com/openapis`

Update the `cardReference` in the following sample request with the value received from Consent Management \& Enrollment.

```bash
curl --request POST \
  --url https://sandbox.api.mastercard.com/openapis/notifications/transactions \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "cardholderAmount": 10.99,
    "cardholderCurrency": "USD",
    "merchantName": "Merchant",
    "cardReference": "<CARD_REFERENCE>"
  }'
```

Warning: The curl example above does not include OAuth signing. For a working curl call, use the [Postman Collection](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/developer-tools/postman-collection/index.md) or the `MCSigner` helper class described in [Authentication](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/quick-start-guide/index.md#step-3-authentication).

Expected successful response:

* `200 OK`
* Empty response body

If sandbox webhook delivery is not configured, fetch notifications from Undelivered Notifications API.

## Next Steps {#next-steps}

* For endpoint and payload details, go to [API Reference](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/api-reference/index.md).
* For common failures and resolution guidance, go to [Codes and Formats](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/codes-and-formats/index.md).
* For implementation walkthroughs, go to [Tutorials](https://developer.mastercard.com/transaction-notifications/documentation/tutorials-and-guides/index.md).