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Testing Your Reflow Integration in Test Mode

With Reflow's test mode you can try out your integration without making actual payments. The test mode provides a separate environment that supports all of the available features from live mode, without the risk of accidentally making a payment with real money.

How It Works​

Projects in Reflow have two modes - live and test. Users can toggle between the two modes at any time.

ModeDescriptionPayments
Live
  • Use this mode in your production app where actual customers will see the purchase options.
  • Only live-mode products, subscription plans and other project objects are displayed. These should be the actual items you are selling.
  • Transactions are made with real money.
  • When paying with a credit or debit card, valid credentials are required.
  • Payment providers like Stripe, PayPal and Paddle will charge fees.
Test
  • Use this mode during development and when testing your integration.
  • Only test-mode products, subscription plans and other project objects are displayed. These will never be shown to live-mode customers and can have fake data.
  • Payments are simulated and don't involve actual money.
  • When testing credit or debit card payment, provider-specific testing cards are used.
  • Payment provider fees are not charged.

Shared Settings​

Some project settings are shared between test and live mode. This way they need to be configured only once and will work simultaneously in both modes. Shared settings include user sign in, shipping zones, categories, and most of the options under Project > Settings in the dashboard.

Mode-specific Objects​

Objects that can be sold or are the result of a sale are mode-specific. Examples of such objects are products, orders, auth user accounts and subscription plans among others.

The objects and their relations are locked within the selected mode:

  • An object (e.g. product) created in test mode cannot be switched to live mode.
  • A test-mode order can only contain test products.
  • A test-mode user can only subscribe to a test plan. The resulting subscription will also be in test mode.

The mode of an object is determined at the time of its creation, whether that is via the dashboard or the Reflow API.

Test Mode in the Dashboard​

The Reflow dashboard can be switched between live and test mode via the toggle in the top left corner. Depending on the selected mode, only live or test objects will be displayed. Creating new project items (e.g. products, subscription plans, coupons) will make them locked to the currently selected dashboard mode.

Note

The live/test mode toggle in the website will not affect your Reflow apps - it only applies to the dashboard. The mode of your integration will depend on your code or toolkit settings.

Enabling Test Mode During Development​

Switching between live and test mode in your app will depend on the nature of your integration. You can read more about testing in the following guides: