Sandbox Access

The ABDM Sandbox is a full test environment where you build and certify your integration before touching production. Registration, test ABHA numbers, and certification all happen here.

Sandbox portal: sandbox.abdm.gov.in · Production onboarding happens only after milestone certification.

Registration

Create a sandbox account

Sign up on the sandbox portal with your organisation details. You'll describe your product (HMIS, LIMS, PHR app, health locker, etc.) and which roles you intend to implement (HIP, HIU, or both).

Await approval

NHA reviews sandbox applications. Once approved you receive a Client ID and Client Secret for the sandbox environment.

Configure your callback URL

Almost all ABDM APIs respond asynchronously to a webhook you host. Register your bridge callback URL via the gateway (it must be publicly reachable over HTTPS). See Callbacks & Webhooks.

Get a session token

Exchange your credentials for a bearer token and start calling APIs. See Authentication.

Environments

Environment	Purpose	Notes
Sandbox	Development, testing, certification	Test ABHAs only — never real patient data
Production	Live traffic	Requires certification + production credentials

Base URLs differ per environment and per service (gateway, ABHA, HFR, etc.). Keep them configurable in your application — they have changed over time and differ between API versions.

API versions

ABDM's v1/v2 gateway APIs are deprecated in favour of the v3 API family (changed paths, payloads, and mandatory REQUEST-ID / TIMESTAMP / X-CM-ID headers). Existing M1 integrators were required to migrate by 31 January 2025 — build against v3 from day one.

Your first call

Get a gateway session token (v3)

curl -X POST "https://dev.abdm.gov.in/api/hiecm/gateway/v3/sessions" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "REQUEST-ID: $(uuidgen | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z')" \
  -H "TIMESTAMP: $(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.000Z)" \
  -H "X-CM-ID: sbx" \
  -d '{
    "clientId": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
    "clientSecret": "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET",
    "grantType": "client_credentials"
  }'

A successful response returns an accessToken (JWT) you pass as Authorization: Bearer <token> on subsequent calls — see Authentication for the full header reference.

Test utilities

Test ABHA creation — the sandbox lets you create ABHA numbers with mock Aadhaar OTP flows.
Sandbox PHR app — use the sandbox build of the ABHA/PHR app to approve consents and test discovery/linking against your HIP.
Swagger/API references — each service publishes OpenAPI specs from the sandbox portal.

Integration Milestones

What you need to demonstrate for M1, M2, and M3.

Authentication

Sessions, tokens, and X-CM-ID headers in detail.

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