Arcadier provisions two dedicated environments for every marketplace, plus access to a shared public sandbox. Each environment is isolated and requires its own credentials. All development and testing must be completed in Stage before any configuration is promoted to Production.
| Environment | Purpose | Key Characteristics |
| Lower Environment (Stage) | Development, integration testing, initial configuration. All onboarding walkthroughs happen here. | Mirrors production structure. Relaxed access controls. Not rate-limited by default. Configuration not synced to Production. |
| Production Environment | The live marketplace. Protected by firewall controls. | Separate credentials from Stage. Payment gateway uses live keys. All Stage configuration must be manually replicated before go-live. |
| Public Sandbox | Early API exploration before dedicated environments are provisioned. | Shared environment. Requires NDA and sandbox request form. Lower capacity than Production. Not rate-limited under normal conditions. |
Lower Environment - Key activities
- Initial Admin Portal configuration:
- Categories, payment methods, commission structure, custom fields, user groups.
- API integration development and endpoint testing.
- Validation of full buyer journey: registration → browse → cart → checkout → order.
- Validation of seller journey: onboarding → listing creation → order fulfilment.
- Walkthrough sessions with the Arcadier onboarding team.
Production (Pre-go-live check) - Key activities
- Payment gateway configured with live credentials.
- Commission structure set.
- Category hierarchy created.
- Custom fields defined.
- At least one sub-admin account provisioned.
- End-to-end transaction tested using test seller and buyer accounts.
- Final walkthrough completed with your Arcadier account manager.
Public Sandbox
For developers and technical teams who wish to explore the Arcadier API prior to the provisioning of dedicated environments, a shared public sandbox is available. Access to the sandbox is subject to the certain conditions. See Public Sandbox Access article for full details.