Applications are registered entities within Mercado Pago that act as a unique identifier for managing the authentication and authorization of your integrations. In other words, they serve as the link between your development and Mercado Pago, and they constitute the first stage in carrying out the integration.

With them, you can access the necessary credentialsUnique access keys used to identify an integration in your account, linked to your application. For more information, access the link below.Credentials to interact with our APIs or specific services, as well as manage and organize your integration.

To create an application, follow the steps below.

1. In the upper right corner of Mercado Pago Developers, click on Login and enter the required information with the data for your Mercado Pago account.
2. Once you are logged in, go to Your Integrations. There, click on Create application.

3. Enter a name to identify your application. The limit is up to 50 alphanumeric characters.
4. When asked about the type of payment solution to integrate, select Online payments, which is the type of solution corresponding to virtual stores.
5. Since you are creating an application for the Checkout API, in "Are you using an e-commerce platform?", indicate that you are not using an e-commerce platform, as this solution is for integration into self-developed sites.
6. Then, choose CheckoutAPI as the product you are integrating.
7. In "Integration model", select the integration model that aligns with your business model.
8. Accept the Privacy Statement and the Terms and Conditions and click on Create application.

In Your integration, you will be able to view the list of all your created applications and access the application details for each of them.

After creating your application, you will need your [production credentials]{link="/developers/en/docs/credentials" linkText="Credentials" content="Unique access keys used to identify an integration in your account, linked to your application. For more information, access the link below."} to proceed with the integration process. To do this, follow the steps below to learn how to activate them.

1. Go to Your integrations and select an application.
2. Go to the Production credentials section in the left side menu. You will find the Public Key and the Access Token.
3. In the Industry field, select from the drop-down menu the industry or category to which the business you are integrating belongs.
4. In the Website (required) field, complete with the URL of your business website.
5. Accept the Privacy Statement and the Terms and Conditions. Fill in the reCAPTCHA and click on Activate production credentials.

When accessing production credentials, the following credential pairs will be displayed:

For this integration with Checkout API , you will use the Public KeyPublic key used in the frontend to access information and encrypt data. You can access it through Your integrations > Application details > Production > Production credentials. and the Access TokenPrivate key of the application created in Mercado Pago, that is used in the backend in development environments and when receiving real payments. You can access it through Your integrations > Application details > Production > Production credentials..