Documentation

Get started

PokerWorks APIs are in beta. Create a Console account, then choose the path that matches what you are building:

Operate a PokerDeck room — create rooms, publish tournaments, wire webhooks, and read tournament result verification from trusted server code with the Management API.
Make a quick calculation call — create a test product key and call the Calculation API with cURL in about five minutes.

The Calculation path is the fastest first proof. The Management path is the platform path for room operators, branded-site partners, and server-side automation.

For the full beta on-ramp, including browser-safe public tournament result reads and generated collection posture, see First API call & collections.

Which key do I use?

pw_test_…Calculation API — Server-side test calculation calls.

pw_live_…Calculation API — Server-side live calculation calls.

pw_mgmt_…Automation & management — Server-side service-account automation. Never calculation calls or browser code.

1. Create an account

Sign up in the console with Google or email magic link. Test keys and free credits are available self-serve. Some live traffic, embed, webhook, and billing features require the right project configuration, scopes, product access, or usage controls before they are visible or usable.

2. Choose your path

If you want to operate or automate a PokerDeck poker room, start with Automate with a service account. You will use a server-side pw_mgmt_... management token, not a product key.

If you want the smallest first API proof, continue below and make a Calculation API call with a server-side pw_test_... product key.

3. Create a test key

In the console, open Product keys and create a test key (pw_test_…). The raw key is shown once at creation — copy it then. We store only its hash; it can't be recovered, only rotated or revoked.

Send it as a bearer token: Authorization: Bearer pw_test_…

4. Make your first calculation call

Start with the smallest possible request: the equity of one hand against another. Paths are versioned under /api/v1/….

cURL
curl https://api.pokerworks.io/api/v1/calculations/equity/holdem \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pw_test_…" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "players": [
      { "id": "hero",    "mode": "hand", "hand": ["As", "Ah"] },
      { "id": "villain", "mode": "hand", "hand": ["Kd", "Kc"] }
    ]
  }'

That's a complete, metered call against your test environment. Once it works, add ranges, a board, dead cards, or more players — see Hold'em equity.

5. Read the response

Every response comes back in the same envelope, so you can handle them uniformly:

requestId — quote it in support requests.
creditsCharged — what this call cost.
engine — the calculation engine that produced the result.
method — how the result was computed, e.g. exact, monte-carlo, or deterministic.
warnings — non-fatal warnings returned as strings.
result — the calculation itself (here, each player's equity).

Hold'em equity uses engine: "poker-lab-tools/odds-calculator". Exact hand scenarios usually return method.type: "exact"; range-heavy scenarios can return method.type: "monte-carlo" with sampleCount and optional marginOfErrorPct.

6. Go live

Live traffic is controlled separately from test-mode traffic. Stripe-backed billing is the planned payment rail, and paid-flow proof is still part of launch readiness; until paid usage is enabled for your account or project, treat beta usage as free-credit or manually provisioned. Successful calls draw down credits; validation and auth failures are never charged. See Access & limits for the current beta posture.

Automating room operations? The Management API uses service-account management tokens (pw_mgmt_…) from trusted server code. Use the Console and documented HTTP contracts for beta self-serve automation today. Packaged CLI, MCP, and management SDK distribution is still landing; do not depend on private monorepo tooling for an external integration.

Using TypeScript? The public SDK will be published later as @pokerworks/sdk. Beta docs stay cURL/OpenAPI-first until that package is installable outside the monorepo.

Build against the public contract

Model product-key calculation integrations against the Calculation API Reference. Model service-account automation against the Management API pages under Automation & management. If you are not sure which path fits, use Choose your API path. If you want collections, use generated artifacts only once they are published from the public OpenAPI and webhook contracts. The PokerWorks API origin is https://api.pokerworks.io.

Choose your API path