This guide shows how to sign up and authenticate with Lava programmatically. By the end, you’ll have API credentials ready to use from code.
Prerequisites
Install the SDK
npm install @lavapayments/nodejs
Authenticate
Lava.login() opens your browser, lets you sign up or log in, and returns your API credentials automatically.
import { Lava } from '@lavapayments/nodejs';
const credentials = await Lava.login();
console.log(credentials);
// {
// secret_key: 'lava_sk_...', // For merchant operations (meters, plans, checkout)
// secret_key_id: 'sk_...',
// wallet_key: 'lava_wk_...', // For wallet operations (spend keys, wallet keys)
// wallet_key_id: 'wk_...',
// merchant_id: 'mer_...',
// wallet_id: 'wa_...'
// }
If you don’t have an account yet, Lava.login() will take you through sign-up first. No separate registration step needed.
What happens under the hood
- A local HTTP server starts on a random port
- Your browser opens to Lava’s authorization page
- You sign up or log in and click “Authorize”
- Credentials flow back to your terminal
- The local server shuts down
The entire flow takes about 10 seconds.
Initialize the SDK
You get two keys back, each scoped to different operations:
// For merchant operations: meters, plans, checkout, connections, usage
const lava = new Lava(credentials.secret_key);
// For wallet operations: spend keys, wallet keys, models
const wallet = new Lava(credentials.wallet_key);
Store your credentials in environment variables or a secrets manager. You only need to run Lava.login() once.
# Save to your environment
export LAVA_SECRET_KEY="lava_sk_..."
export LAVA_WALLET_KEY="lava_wk_..."
// Reads LAVA_SECRET_KEY from environment automatically
const lava = new Lava();
// Or pass explicitly
const wallet = new Lava(process.env.LAVA_WALLET_KEY);
Alternative: Exchange an Auth Code Directly
If you’re building a custom auth flow (for example, handling the browser callback yourself), use Lava.exchangeAuthCode() instead:
const credentials = await Lava.exchangeAuthCode({
code: 'your_one_time_auth_code'
});
What’s Next?
