# Environments

The therappai API is designed to be predictable and easy to integrate. This page outlines the available environments, base URLs, versioning model, and any rate-limiting considerations so you can develop confidently.

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### **Base URLs**

#### **Production**

Use this environment for all live traffic:

```
https://api.therappai.com/api/v1
```

This endpoint is optimized for performance, reliability, and user-facing workloads.

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#### **Staging (optional)**

If your team sets up a staging or sandbox API, it would typically follow this structure:

```
https://staging.therappai.com/api/v1
```

> **Note:** Staging is not required for v1. If you do not have this environment set up yet, you may remove or comment it out.

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### **API Versioning**

therappai uses **URL-based versioning**, starting with:

```
/api/v1
```

#### Why URL versioning?

* Non-breaking changes can be shipped continuously
* Breaking changes are isolated to new versions
* Integrators always know which version they are targeting

When a future version ships, it will follow this pattern:

```
/api/v2
```

Versioning ensures your integration remains stable over time.

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### **Rate Limits**

To protect platform stability, therappai may apply soft rate limits to some endpoints, especially those related to:

* AI therapy message generation
* Video avatar generation
* Heavy content retrieval

#### Defaults (if nothing custom is set):

* Standard API endpoints: **high allowance**
* AI message endpoints: **moderate allowance**
* Video endpoints: **tighter allowance**

> **Note:** If your application expects high concurrency or enterprise-scale usage, reach out to us for custom limits.

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### **Error Behavior Between Environments**

Production and staging (if enabled) share consistent error formats:

* `400` — validation issues
* `401` — authentication required or invalid token
* `403` — forbidden
* `404` — resource not found
* `429` — rate limit reached
* `500` — server error

This consistency ensures that development and testing behave predictably.

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### **Environment Best Practices**

* Always store base URLs in environment variables (`ENV`, `.env`, CI/CD secrets).
* Never hardcode tokens in your codebase or client-side JavaScript.
* Test integrations in staging when available, especially session flows and multi-step interactions.
* Lock your integration to a specific API version.

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