> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.avraapi.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Providers & Microservices

> Understand AvraAPI service groups, managed providers, and the supported ways to integrate.

# Build with AvraAPI services

AvraAPI gives your backend one consistent integration surface for selected business services. You authenticate once with credentials from your AvraAPI project, call the appropriate service route, and receive a documented AvraAPI response.

## Service Groups & Providers

A service group is the capability area you choose, such as SMS or Security. A provider is the implementation that performs that service for your project. They work together; they are not separate APIs that your application needs to integrate with directly.

### Free vs Paid Services

We categorize our managed services into Free and Paid tiers. When you sign up, your workspace receives **Trial Credits** to test the paid capabilities before committing.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Currencies (Free)" icon="coins" href="/api-reference/cbsl-rates">
    Currency codes, live rates from CBSL, and conversion.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Security" icon="shield-check" href="/api-reference/security/vpn-shield">
    IP-risk and disposable-email checks.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Location (Free)" icon="location-dot" href="/api-reference/location/lookup">
    IP geolocation through MaxMind GeoLite2.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Utilities (Paid)" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/api-reference/utilities/qr-generate">
    QR code, barcode, and PDF generation.
  </Card>

  <Card title="SMS" icon="message-sms" href="/api-reference/sms/balance">
    Project-scoped messaging through QuickSend SMS.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Trial Credits Eligibility

When using **Trial Credits**, you can test the majority of our paid microservices exactly as they would behave in production.

* **Fully Functional:** All paid services (except SMS) are completely unrestricted and function normally during your trial.
* **SMS Limitations:** To prevent abuse, the SMS provider has specific limits on trial accounts:
  1. You can only send messages to the verified phone number used to activate the trial.
  2. You are limited to sending a maximum of 10 SMS messages using trial credits.

For complete details on limits and usage, please refer to our [Terms of Service](https://avraapi.com/terms-of-service).

## Start with an SDK when possible

For the easiest backend integration, start with an AvraAPI SDK. It gives your application a language-native interface and keeps common setup consistent. Use the [SDK documentation](/sdk/overview) to select the right path.

Use the [REST API guide](/api-reference/rest-api) when you need direct HTTP control, are integrating from an unsupported language, or need to inspect the exact request and response contract.

<Warning>
  Project Client Secrets are server credentials. Do not expose them to buyers, browser code, mobile apps, source control, logs, or screenshots.
</Warning>


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