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

# CHIP Send overview

> Programmatically pay out funds via the CHIP Send API.

CHIP Send is CHIP's **payouts** product. It lets a registered merchant
move funds from a CHIP Send account to recipient bank accounts via a
REST API, with built-in approval workflows and per-recipient bank account
registration.

It is a **separate product** from [CHIP Collect](/chip-collect/overview/introduction):

|                  | CHIP Collect                       | CHIP Send                                 |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| Purpose          | Accept payments from buyers        | Pay out funds to recipients               |
| Base URL         | `https://gate.chip-in.asia/api/v1` | `https://api.chip-in.asia/api`            |
| Sandbox base URL | (same — test mode uses test keys)  | `https://staging-api.chip-in.asia/api`    |
| Authentication   | `Authorization: Bearer <secret>`   | Bearer + `epoch` + HMAC-SHA512 `checksum` |
| Path convention  | Plural with trailing slash         | `snake_case` under `/send/...`            |

## Typical payout flow

A complete payout consists of four steps:

1. Call the [Accounts API](/chip-send/api-reference/accounts/list) to check
   the convertible balance.
2. Call the
   [Increase Send Limit API](/chip-send/api-reference/send-limits/create)
   to allocate balance for payouts.
3. Call the
   [Add Bank Account API](/chip-send/api-reference/bank-accounts/create)
   to register a recipient.
4. Call the
   [Create Send Instruction API](/chip-send/api-reference/send-instructions/create)
   to send funds.

A walkthrough is provided in
[Test Integration](/chip-send/api-reference/test-integration).

## Prerequisites

Before integration begins, a CHIP Send account must be created for the
merchant by the CHIP admin team. The merchant's CHIP Account Manager
must be contacted with:

1. A primary email address.
2. The email addresses of every required approver. If two approvals are
   required, both email addresses must be provided.

## Authentication in one line

Every request needs three headers:

```
Authorization: Bearer <api_key>
epoch:         <unix_seconds>
checksum:      HEX( HMAC_SHA512(key=api_secret, msg=epoch + api_key) )
```

Full algorithm, code samples in Node, Ruby, Python, and PHP, and a
troubleshooting table are in the
[CHIP Send introduction](/chip-send/api-reference/introduction).