# Overview

> Quote, purchase and track Mothership shipments from your own software over a REST API.

![Quote and pickup requests flow through the Mothership network to partner carriers. Rates, live tracking, status updates and documents flow back.](https://developers.mothership.com/images/overview.svg)

## Mothership API

Mothership provides a RESTful API that enables third-party developers to quote, purchase, and track shipments for their respective Mothership shipping accounts.

The API responds with JSON-encoded data and standard response codes. [Webhooks](https://developers.mothership.com/reference/webhooks) are available to provide real-time status updates for shipments.

## Accessing the API

Organization owners create sandbox and production API tokens on the [API settings page in the dashboard](https://dashboard.mothership.com/settings/api). See [Authentication](https://developers.mothership.com/reference/authentication) for how to send them.

## Environments

There are two environments available to developers. Both serve the same `/beta` API, so moving to production means changing the base URL and the token.

| Environment | Base URL | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Sandbox** | `https://sandbox.api.mothership.com/beta` | A safe environment to test endpoints without purchasing a shipment. Requests are validated exactly as in production, and responses have the same fields, but the data is sample data. |
| **Production** | `https://api.mothership.com/beta` | Quotes are real, purchases book real shipments, and your organization's payment method is charged. |

### How the sandbox behaves

- A request the sandbox accepts is accepted in production, and a request it rejects fails in production with the same error message.
- Responses have the same fields as production. Values are fixed sample data, so every shipment you create in the sandbox is `MS00000000`.
- Quotes echo the freight and locations you send. Nothing is stored, so a shipment response carries sample freight rather than the freight from your quote.
- You can create, update and remove webhook configurations, but the sandbox does not store them or deliver webhooks. Test webhook delivery in production.
- Rate limits match production, but sandbox requests are counted separately and never use up your production limits.

## OpenAPI specification

An [OpenAPI v3 specification for Mothership's API](https://api.mothership.com/schema.json) can be downloaded for use in auto-generation of client code. This site serves the same document at [/openapi.json](https://developers.mothership.com/openapi.json), and every page in this reference is built from it.

## Using these docs with AI tools

[/llms.txt](https://developers.mothership.com/llms.txt) lists every page for language models and coding agents. Add `.md` to any page's URL, such as [/reference/createquote.md](https://developers.mothership.com/reference/createquote.md), to get that page as Markdown, or use **Copy page** at the top of the page.

## Support

If you run into any issues or have any questions while using the Mothership API, please send an email to [developers@mothership.com](mailto:developers@mothership.com).