For developers: start in the sandbox

If you build software in Ghana, you've probably asked people to upload a certificate, a staff ID or a letter, and then checked it by hand. The Vaurse developer platform is designed so your app can ask one question instead: is this true, and who says so?

The developer platform is on our roadmap as planned. You can start building in the sandbox, free. Here is what's in it and how it works.

The six parts

• Sign in with Vaurse. People sign in with the app they already have. It is standard OpenID Connect with PKCE. If you've added "Sign in with Google", you know the shape.
• Verify. Check a Voscard number: real and active, frozen, or not found. Every answer shows the issuer's tier.
• Record requests. Ask for a signed fact, like a job, a degree or a certificate, with the person's consent.
• Cards and access. Accept Voscards at doors and tills, with readers and the till app.
• Issuing. Issue signed facts, if you're the one who knows: an employer, a school or a licensing body.
• Offers and loyalty. Deals, stamps and member prices at the till, where the shop learns only a first name and whether someone qualifies.

Webhooks tell you when something changes, for example a card frozen or a fact withdrawn. They are signed with HMAC-SHA256, with a timestamp and replay protection. The platform uses OAuth 2.1 and OpenID Connect, W3C Verifiable Credentials and OpenAPI 3.1.

How consent works

The person says yes or no. Your app asks for specific facts. The person sees exactly what's asked and answers in the Vaurse app, with their phone's own Face ID or fingerprint. You get only those facts, signed, and the person can see you asked.

There are four scopes, and only four: employment, education, licences and certifications, and right to practise. The person approves scope by scope, so "education yes, employment no" is a valid answer. Each entry you receive shows who signed it and when, and you can check every claim yourself against the issuer's published keys.

Start in the sandbox

The sandbox has test cards and test people, so you can build without touching anyone's real data. One test card is real and active, one is frozen, one isn't found, one belongs to a student and one belongs to someone who has left their organisation. Test calls never reach a real person, and test and live keys are kept separate.

The sandbox is free and unlimited. People using your app need the Vaurse app, which is free.

Going live

Live use needs an approved partner. Live keys come after a review, and that's the point:

1. Build in the sandbox, with fictional people, cards and doors.
2. Verify your organisation, against the company register and your domain.
3. Apply to go live, with your use case, a data processing agreement and a security questionnaire.
4. After the review, you get live keys, with two-factor on.

Every app agrees to the same rules. It asks only for what the person allows. Every request shows in the person's app. You may not sell or pass on what you receive. Live use has a free allowance every month, paid from the same credit wallet after that; see our prices page, or talk to us.

What you can't build, and what's next

Some things stay off the table, whoever asks. No tool can search for a person. No product can score people, rank them or sell what it learns. Every fact shared about a person is approved by them, for a purpose and a set time, and they can take it back.

Later, we plan to add access for AI agents, so an agent can check a fact for you, with your say-so. You can follow it on the roadmap. Then read the docs, and start in the sandbox.