Getting Started

This document assumes Apex has already been installed on your server, and you have access to the administration panel. If not, please either contact technical support to have Apex installed, or view the Installation page of this manual. Once Apex has been installed, visit the administration panel where you will be prompted to create your first administrator.

Once inside your administration panel, there are a few things you must do in order for Apex to work properly, mainly creating various free API keys. Follow the below steps.

API Keys

There are various API keys required for Apex to operate correctly, as listed below. All API keys can be entered via the Settings->General menu of the administration panel, in the first tab named General.

1. reCaptcha -- Apex utilizes Google's popular noCaptcha reCaptch, which is that checkbox users must click on to confirm they are human. Generate an API key-pair at Google reCaptcha API and enter the API key and secret into the Settings menu.
2. Nexmo -- Only required if you wish to send out SMS messages from the software allowing users to verify their phone number, and authenticate via SMS when logging in, processing a withdrawal, etc. You can signup for an account at the Nextmo site, and they do provide a free trial credit with all new accounts. However, after the trial credit is used, Nexmo is a paid service, but is best in the business for sending out SMS messages from software.
3. OpenExchange -- Only required if you're providing support for multiple fiat currencies, and is used to obtain updated exchange rates. You can sign up for a free account at OpenExchange that allows for 1000 requests per-month, which is enough to obtain the current exchange rates every hour. You can change this to obtain the current exchange rates more frequently, but it will require you signing up for a paid account with OpenExchange.

Obtain the necessary API keys as described above, and enter them into the fields provided within the first tab of the Settings->General menu of the administration panel.

Overall Settings

Through the Settings->General menu, also ensure you complete the Site Info tab, as that is the information that will be displayed on your public site. Then simply go through the sub-menus within the Settings menu, such as Users and Financial, and check out the various settings available to you. Most settings should be quite self explanatory and straight forward.

DigitalOcean

This section is only really required if you're receiving technical support / development from the Apex team, although other developers may take advantage of the DigitalOcean package that is developed for Apex.

Although not required, it is recommended you host with DigitalOcean as not only do they offer excellent and cost effective web hosting with excellent support for hirizontal scaling, we also fully integrate with their back-end. Sign up for a free account with DigitalOcean, enter at least one credit card, and generate an API key from the Generate API Token page.

Supply the API key to your technical contact, as it will allow them to easily and effectively monitor your entire cluster for uptime, resource usage, and so on. When any issues occur, your technical contact (eg. the Apex development team) will be instantly notified via e-mail / SMS, and handle handle the issue immediately.