Sandbox carts at real restaurants

October 25, 2026SandboxBreaking

In sandbox, POST /v1/carts and the MCP order tool build a cart at a real restaurant from that restaurant’s menu as Layout holds it, with its real items and choices. No browser opens, and the same code you ship builds it.

What changed

simulate on a sandbox cart picks its ending: placed (the default), failed, unconfirmed, challenge, code, card_declined, price_changed, closed or pickup_later.
latency: realistic (the default) takes 30 seconds for one item and 10 more for each item after it, at most 90; instant skips every wait.
engine: shadow (the default) builds from the menu Layout holds; real builds on the restaurant’s own site, 10 a day per developer account.
Production refuses simulate, latency and engine with 400 invalid_request, and MCP with sandbox_only.
409 menu_not_held answers a sandbox cart or menu read at a restaurant whose menu Layout does not hold, or a sandbox cart that names no place.
Sandbox places searches and browses list only restaurants whose menu Layout holds. A list emptied for that reason carries emptyBecause: "no_held_menu".
Sandbox POST /v1/menus answers only with the menu Layout holds, the one a sandbox cart is priced from, and never reads one live.
MCP menu is on sandbox build sessions, and answers the same way. mcp-tools.json lists the tools a sandbox session reads differently as sandboxSessionTools, and the session’s own instructions.
Sandbox places list a restaurant only when its held menu shows at least 3 items. An option that takes money off reads like No Rice (-$1.00).
soldOut: true marks a menu item that is sold out.
GET /v1/usage lists sandbox builds that open no browser as simulated_builds, 10,000 a day. In sandbox, builds counts only builds with "engine": "real".

What to do

Build sandbox carts with a placeId from a sandbox places search. Test each ending with simulate, and "latency": "instant" in CI. See Sandbox.

Breaking changes

A sandbox cart opens the restaurant’s site only with "engine": "real". A sandbox cart or menu read at a restaurant whose menu Layout does not hold answers menu_not_held. The GET /v1/usage pool test_restaurant_builds is renamed simulated_builds.

All changes