Get Started with LumiID in 5 Minutes

This guide walks you through everything you need to go from zero to your first successful identity verification API call. You’ll create a LumiID account, grab your Sandbox API key, send a NIN verification request, and read the response — all in about five minutes. No credit card required.

Sandbox is free. Sandbox requests use simulated data and never touch real government databases or consume wallet credits. Switch to Production only after your integration is validated.

Create Your LumiID Account

Before making any API calls, you need a LumiID account. Registration is free and takes about two minutes — you get instant access to the Sandbox environment.

Go to lumiid.com and click Get Started.
Fill in your name, business email address, and a secure password. Check your inbox for the verification email and enter the OTP to activate your account.
Complete your business profile — enter your company name, industry, and intended use case. This helps LumiID configure the right verification products and compliance settings for your account.
You’ll land in Sandbox mode by default. Stay here while you’re developing and testing.

When you’re ready to go live, switch to Production in the dashboard and fund your wallet. Sandbox requests are always free; production requests consume wallet credits.

Get Your API Keys

LumiID uses Secret Keys (Bearer Tokens) to authenticate every request. Your Secret Key must be kept server-side — never expose it in frontend code.

From the left sidebar, navigate to Settings → API Keys.
You’ll see separate key pairs for Sandbox and Production. Copy your Sandbox Secret Key — you’ll use this for the next step.
Store the key in an environment variable, not in your source code.

.env

# LumiID Credentials — never commit this file to version control
LUMIID_SECRET_KEY=your-sandbox-secret-key-here
LUMIID_ENV=sandbox   # change to "production" when going live

Your Secret Key grants full access to your LumiID account. Never expose it in frontend code, public repositories, or client-side JavaScript. If it’s ever compromised, regenerate it immediately from Settings → API Keys → Regenerate.

Make Your First API Call

Let’s verify a Nigerian NIN (National Identification Number). This is the most common first call developers make — it confirms that a NIN exists and returns the official identity record from the NIMC government database.Send a POST request to https://api.lumiid.com/v1/ng/nin-basic/ with the NIN in the request body. In Sandbox, use the test NIN 89184072280 — it returns realistic dummy data every time.

curl --request POST 'https://api.lumiid.com/v1/ng/nin-basic/' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer your-sandbox-secret-key' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"nin": "89184072280"}'

import requests, os

secret_key = os.getenv("LUMIID_SECRET_KEY")

url = "https://api.lumiid.com/v1/ng/nin-basic/"

headers = {
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {secret_key}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

data = {"nin": "89184072280"}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)
print(response.json())

const axios = require('axios');

const secretKey = process.env.LUMIID_SECRET_KEY;

async function verifyNIN(nin) {
  const response = await axios.post(
    'https://api.lumiid.com/v1/ng/nin-basic/',
    { nin },
    {
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${secretKey}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      },
    }
  );
  return response.data;
}

verifyNIN('89184072280').then(console.log).catch(console.error);

$secretKey = getenv('LUMIID_SECRET_KEY');
$nin = '89184072280';

$ch = curl_init("https://api.lumiid.com/v1/ng/nin-basic/");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        "Authorization: Bearer {$secretKey}",
        "Content-Type: application/json",
    ],
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode(['nin' => $nin]),
]);

$response = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
curl_close($ch);

var_dump($response);

Parameter	Description
`Authorization`	Your Secret Key, prefixed with `Bearer` (e.g. `Bearer your-secret-key`). Always send from your server — never from a browser or mobile app directly.
`nin`	The 11-digit NIN to verify. Use `89184072280` in Sandbox to get realistic test data.

Understand the Response

Every LumiID response follows the same predictable JSON envelope. A successful NIN verification returns a 200 OK with the verified identity record inside a data object.

200 OK — NIN Verified

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Verification completed",
  "data": {
    "nin": "89184072280",
    "first_name": "Adaeze",
    "last_name": "Okonkwo",
    "middle_name": "Chioma",
    "date_of_birth": "1992-04-15",
    "gender": "Female",
    "phone_number": "080XXXXXXXX",
    "address": "14 Adeola Odeku, Victoria Island, Lagos",
    "state_of_origin": "Anambra",
    "photo": "data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQ..."
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
`data.nin`	string	The verified NIN, echoed back for confirmation.
`data.first_name`	string	Legal first name as registered with NIMC.
`data.last_name`	string	Legal last name as registered with NIMC.
`data.date_of_birth`	string	Date of birth in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
`data.gender`	string	Gender as recorded in the NIMC database.
`data.photo`	string	Base64-encoded JPEG biometric photo from NIMC. Use this for Face Match verification.

Cross-reference first_name, last_name, and date_of_birth against what the user provided during signup. Then use the photo field as the reference image in a Face Match call to confirm the person is who they claim to be.

What’s Next

You’ve made your first LumiID API call. Here’s where to go from here:

NIN Verification

Full reference for all NIN endpoints, both Basic and Premium tiers, with all request parameters and response fields.

BVN Verification

Verify Bank Verification Numbers against CBN data with a single API call.

Biometric Checks

Add liveness detection and face matching to confirm a user is real, present, and matches their government ID photo.

AML Screening

Screen individuals and businesses against sanctions lists, PEP registers, and watchlists across 40+ sources.

Get Started

General

Government Verification

Business Verification

Biometric & AML

SDKs & Integration

Reference

Get Started with LumiID in 5 Minutes

What’s Next

NIN Verification

BVN Verification

Biometric Checks

AML Screening

​What’s Next

NIN Verification

BVN Verification

Biometric Checks

AML Screening

What’s Next