# How can we conduct early testing?

**URL:** <https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/how-can-we-conduct-early-testing/8720>\
**Category:** FAQ-Product\
**Tags:** testing, nrl-api\
**Created:** [11 November 2025 15:15 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/how-can-we-conduct-early-testing/8720 "2025-11-11T15:15:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Elizabeth\_Williams](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/nhsdigitaldeveloper/user_avatar/developer.community.nhs.uk/elizabeth_williams/32/755_2.png) [@Elizabeth\_Williams](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/u/Elizabeth_Williams)\
**Post date:** [11 November 2025 15:15 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/how-can-we-conduct-early-testing/8720/1 "2025-11-11T15:15:50Z")

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Should we mock the API for early test environments and only connect one environment to Integration?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Elizabeth\_Williams](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/nhsdigitaldeveloper/user_avatar/developer.community.nhs.uk/elizabeth_williams/32/755_2.png) [@Elizabeth\_Williams](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/u/Elizabeth_Williams)\
**Post date:** [11 November 2025 15:19 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/how-can-we-conduct-early-testing/8720/2 "2025-11-11T15:19:03Z")

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It is fine for early test environments to connect directly to Integration. If you’d prefer a lightweight option for exploration, you can instead use our sandbox APIs.

Our sandbox API is open-access, and doesn’t require authentication. The API is otherwise functionally identical to our Live service.  
[Producer sandbox](https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue/national-record-locator-fhir/v3/producer#get-/DocumentReference)  
[Consumer sandbox](https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue/national-record-locator-fhir/v3/consumer#get-/DocumentReference)

Note: you will be asked to complete your formal integration testing in INT.