> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.thedecard.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# First Steps

> The second page of Getting Started, following Overview and leading into Quickstart.

***

## 📄 Guide

Before you call any API, you need to complete onboarding with DCS, receive your credentials, and configure your callbacks. This page gets those prerequisites in place; once they are all done, head to [Quickstart](./quickstart) to issue your first card end to end.

### Preparation steps

1. **Contact DCS to get onboarded**
   Tell us the card types you plan to issue (virtual card / physical card), the card network, and the BIN. DCS creates an **Enterprise** for you and assigns your **card configuration (`profileId`)** offline.

2. **Receive your credentials**
   DCS generates an `api_key` and a `secret_key` and hands them over to you. The `secret_key` is used to sign requests, so keep it safe. For the signing rules, see the [Authentication guide](../integration-resources/authentication).

3. **Configure your callbacks**
   Provide DCS with three items: `webhook_url` (the endpoint for business notifications), `auth_url` (the endpoint for authorization notifications), and `external_public_key` (the RSA public key used to verify signatures on authorization notifications).

4. **Get your IP whitelisted**
   Send DCS your static egress IP. You can call the APIs only after DCS has added it to the whitelist.

5. **You are ready**
   Once the steps above are done, go to [Quickstart](./quickstart) and issue your first card in the sandbox environment.

<Tip>
  We provide a Java SDK to accelerate integration (optional): [dcs-connector-java](https://github.com/decard-tech/dcs-connector-java). Import it, plug in your own apiKey / secretKey and you are ready to go — the SDK handles the signing for you.

  ```xml theme={null}
  <dependency>
      <groupId>com.dcscc.connector</groupId>
      <artifactId>dcs-card-bridge-connector-java-clients</artifactId>
      <version>{latest-version}</version>
  </dependency>
  ```
</Tip>

***

### Environments and conventions (integration reference)

**Base URLs**

| Environment | URL                                 |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------- |
| Sandbox     | `https://api.thedecard-sandbox.com` |
| Production  | `https://api.thedecard.com`         |

**Global conventions**

* Business time fields are in the **UTC+8** time zone (`X-DAPI-TIMESTAMP` is a Unix epoch timestamp in milliseconds, timezone-independent)
* Currencies use **ISO 3-letter currency codes**; countries use **ISO 2-letter country codes**
* Unless stated otherwise, **Enterprise** refers to your partner team

> 🎗 **PCI**: Choose the appropriate APIs based on whether your company holds a PCI license. If it does, tell DCS in advance and provide your certification, since PCI status determines whether you can call the sensitive card data APIs.

***

## Next steps

With the prerequisites in place, go to [Quickstart](./quickstart) to issue your first card in the sandbox environment. If you want to understand request signing and field encryption, see the [Authentication guide](../integration-resources/authentication).