Testing PayRam on Testnet

The whole point: send a real payment to your own link, on fake money, and watch PayRam detect it — so nothing is a surprise on mainnet.

1. Put the gateway on testnet

Install with --testnet (or PAYRAM_NETWORK=testnet). The installer default is mainnet, so always pass the flag. Use a separate server; the network is fixed at install time (payram_setup_plan with network: "testnet" gives the full plan). Chains run on their testnets (Base → Base Sepolia, Ethereum → Sepolia, Polygon → Amoy). Deploying the EVM smart-contract wallet needs testnet gas — free from a faucet, so no real cost. Smart Bridge rails (Solana, bridged Bitcoin, Tron-USDT, BNB Chain) are mainnet-only in practice, so test the native chains here.

Reality check: testnet faucets are free but often gated (require an account, a mainnet balance, or a social post). If they block you, a ~$10 mainnet run is sometimes the faster proof. The agent flow warns about this.

2. Create a small payment link

bash <(curl -fsSL https://payram.com/setup_payram_agents.sh) create-payment-link
# or: payram_ops_playbook task "create_payment_link" (create_payment_link tool in local mode)
# amount: keep it small, e.g. 1 USD

You get a URL like https://<host>/payments?reference_id=…. If it starts with http://localhost, the human must first save Settings → Site URL from the public domain. Open it — the hosted checkout shows the chain/currency options and a deposit address (+ QR). Append &test=true to preview the flow without paying.