GETTING STARTED
Quick start
Five minutes, end to end. By the time you finish this page you'll have a Tab handle, a hosted checkout link, and a webhook firing into your backend.
1. Make a wallet
Open thetab.bar/sign-up and walk through the five steps: claim a handle, set a PIN, confirm the PIN, pick a backup method, done. The wallet is generated and encrypted in your browser — Tab's servers never see the unencrypted key.
2. Grab an API key
From your dashboard, head into Developer settings and create a key. Tab API keys start with sk_test_ for the test environment and sk_live_ for production. Treat them like any other secret.
3. Create your first order
curl https://api.thetab.bar/v1/orders \ -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_test_..." \ -d amount=12.50 \ -d currency=USDC \ -d chain=base \ -d recipient=@yourhandle
The response includes a checkout_url. Send a buyer to it and the rest is the buyer's problem — they sign, the relayer submits, the router settles.
4. Listen for the webhook
POST /your/webhook
{
"type": "order.completed",
"order": { "id": "ord_8H3kZ...", "amount": "12.50", "tx": "0x..." }
}Verify the signature in the Tab-Signature header (see Webhooks) and you're done.