# Guides
URL: https://docs.awellhealth.com/api-reference/guides

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.awellhealth.com/llms.txt).



The guides cover how to work with the Orchestration API: getting a key accepted, reading what comes
back, and carrying out specific integration jobs. Operation-by-operation detail lives in
[Reference](/api-reference/reference).

## Read these first [#read-these-first]

Read them in this order on a first integration.

1. [Getting started](/api-reference/guides/getting-started). The endpoint, the auth header, and a working query.
2. [Authentication](/api-reference/guides/authentication). How to obtain an API key and send it with every request.
3. [Environments](/api-reference/guides/environments). Sandbox, production, and the regional endpoints.
4. [Domain model](/api-reference/guides/domain-model). The objects the API works with, and the lifecycle of a typical integration.

## The behavior that applies to every call [#the-behavior-that-applies-to-every-call]

| Page                                                                 | Covers                                                |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| [Pagination](/api-reference/guides/pagination)                       | Paging and sorting list results.                      |
| [Errors](/api-reference/guides/errors)                               | The `code` / `success` envelope, plus GraphQL errors. |
| [Rate limits](/api-reference/guides/rate-limits)                     | The limits, and how to handle throttling.             |
| [Mutations](/api-reference/guides/mutations)                         | An orientation to the write operations.               |
| [E.164 phone numbers](/api-reference/guides/e164-phone-numbers)      | The phone number format every write has to use.       |
| [Versions and releases](/api-reference/guides/versions-and-releases) | Why care flow queries need the right `release_id`.    |

## Guides for specific integration jobs [#guides-for-specific-integration-jobs]

| Page                                                         | Covers                                                                |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Start a care flow](/api-reference/guides/start-a-care-flow) | Prerequisites, the start mutations, and hosted-pages sessions.        |
| [Query activities](/api-reference/guides/query-activities)   | The activity lookups and the server-side filters.                     |
| [Work with forms](/api-reference/guides/work-with-forms)     | Rendering, conditional logic, and submitting answers.                 |
| [Manage patients](/api-reference/guides/manage-patients)     | Creating and updating patients, and the identifier behavior to watch. |
| [Webhooks](/api-reference/guides/webhooks)                   | How care flows call other systems, and how to inspect and retry.      |
| [Webhook payloads](/api-reference/guides/webhook-payloads)   | The payload shape for each event.                                     |

**Next:** [Getting started](/api-reference/guides/getting-started) — confirm a key works before building anything on it.