TakehomeGet API keys

Docs · Reference

Five-minute test

A developer who has never seen this repo lands on the site, finds the docs, gets a key, and gets a correct authenticated answer. Stopwatch on. No coaching. Pass is 5:00 or under and employee.net_pay is 800.79.

This file is the script, not a description of one.

Script

Use a clean browser profile (no Takehome tabs, no saved passwords for this site). A terminal is allowed: this is an API.

  1. Start the stopwatch.
  2. Open https://takehome.gautamkhosla.com/
  3. Find the API docs. They are labelled Docs in the header, next to the Takehome name. Do not hunt the footer.
  4. Open Docs. Read until you know how to get a key and what the first call is. The first call is Ontario weekly $1000.00 on 2026-01-15, claim code 1. The correct employee.net_pay is 800.79.
  5. Follow Get a key. Enter any email you control. Submit.
  6. Verify: - If the page shows a verification link, open it. - Otherwise open the email from Takehome and open the link.
  7. Copy the np_test_ key. Leave the live key alone for this test.
  8. In the terminal, run the first-call command from the docs page, with your test key in the Authorization header. On the verify page the same command is filled in with the key.
  9. Confirm the JSON has "net_pay": "800.79".
  10. Stop the stopwatch.

First call (the answer you must see)

curl -sS -X POST https://takehome.gautamkhosla.com/v1/deductions \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -H 'authorization: Bearer np_test_YOUR_KEY' \
  -d '{"as_of":"2026-01-15","province":"ON","pay_period":52,"gross_pay":"1000.00","federal_claim_code":1,"provincial_claim_code":1}'

employee.net_pay must be 800.79. Any other figure is a fail even if the clock is under five minutes.

Local stand-in (when takehome.gautamkhosla.com is not the server under test)

Production URLs above are the product. Until they are deployed, run the same script against a local stack that serves the same pages and the same Worker handler:

# terminal 1: default port 8787; set PORT if that bind is taken
cd services/api && npm run local

# terminal 2: if the API is not on 8787, rebuild so the site targets it
cd web/site && PUBLIC_API_ORIGIN=http://127.0.0.1:8787 npm run build
npx astro preview --host 127.0.0.1 --port 4321

Then the script is identical with these substitutions:

  • Site: http://127.0.0.1:4321/
  • API: http://127.0.0.1:8787 (or $PORT)
  • Since 23 October 2026 the signup form needs Cloudflare Turnstile. A local run builds the site with Cloudflare's published test site key (PUBLIC_TURNSTILE_SITE_KEY=1x00000000000000000000AA); the local API (services/api/scripts/local.mjs) answers siteverify with a local stand-in, because the Worker refuses answers made with Cloudflare's test secret. The walk below has not been re-run with Turnstile yet.
  • The local API echoes a verification link in the signup response so the test does not depend on inbound email.

Record that the run was local in the table.

Observer notes (the second run)

Someone who writes code and has never seen this project runs the script. The author watches and does not speak. Every pause goes in the table: the step number, what they were looking for, how long they looked.

A classmate on a clean laptop is the real observer. A second operator who did not implement the pages is a stand-in, not a substitute.

Runs

When Who Stack Time net_pay Pass? Pauses
2026-09-16 Author, first walk-through local site :4321 + API :8788 1:06 800.79 yes Step 6: signup status said “Check your email” while the verify link was already on the page. Looked for an inbox that does not exist. Docs itself was in the header on the first screen.
2026-09-16 Author, re-run after copy fix same local stack under 5:00 (path still 800.79; signup now says “Open the verification link. Keys are on the next page.”) 800.79 yes Header Docs is visible next to the product name. The province code row is still the noisiest thing on the landing page, but it is not on the way to Docs.
2026-09-16 Stand-in operator who did not implement the pages local site :4321 + API :8788 0:58 800.79 yes Step 2: ~5s blank first load. Step 3: ~11s from start scanning the header; Docs was there, next to API keys and Pricing. Step 4: ~5s for /docs/ to settle. Step 5: ~5s for the signup form; submit was immediate. Step 6: ~2s on “Sending…” then “Open the verification link” (not a blocker). Step 7: none; np_test_ key on the verify page. Step 8: ~10s reading the truncated first-call curl, then ran it against :8788.

Still to do: a classmate on a clean laptop runs the script against the deployed site, and the row goes in the table above. A stand-in and an automated smoke are not a substitute. Watch without helping.

Source: docs/FIVE-MINUTE-TEST.md in the Takehome repository, rendered as written.