Some programmes already have a core that knows every balance. Gateway mode keeps the ledger and the authorization decision there. Rigid runs the network, the card controls and the clock, and asks your endpoint for the answer, signed, inside the authorization window.
POST https://core.yourbank.example/rigid/authorize X-Platform-Signature: t=1758022800,v1=9f2c…e41a { "authorization_id": "auth_88f2", "card_id": "card_3fk1", "amount": "42.50", "currency": "USD", "mcc": "5411", "merchant": { "name": "Corner Grocer", "country": "US" }, "risk": { "score": 0.03, "action": "approve" } } // ← 200 { "decision": "approve" } · answered in 38ms
Every step a Managed-mode authorization takes still happens. The difference is who answers the last question, and whose books the answer lands in.
The network routes the authorization to Rigid, the same as in Managed mode. Nothing changes for the cardholder or the merchant.
Card state, spend controls, velocity limits and the Fraud AI score run in-line before your endpoint is asked anything.
A signed request carries the amount, merchant, category and risk score. You answer approve, partial or decline inside the authorization window.
An approval emits a posting instruction with the approved amount, approval code and network reference. Clearing confirms the closure later.
Same network side, same controls, same Fraud AI, same console. A programme picks where the ledger lives, and can change its mind later.
Rigid holds the ledger and makes the decision.
You hold the ledger and make the decision.
A timeout, a dropped connection or a response that fails validation all mean the same thing: no usable answer. Rigid then decides on your behalf, but only if three independent ceilings allow it. Any one of them refusing is a decline.
Everything stood in for is reported, so you can post it and reconcile it once you are back. Cards keep working; your exposure stays where you put it.
max_amountA flat cap per programme. No single stand-in approval may exceed it, whatever the merchant asks for.
max_total_exposureA cumulative budget for the money Rigid puts at risk while you are unreachable. It resets the moment your endpoint answers again, not at midnight.
declared_balanceYour own read on a card's balance, registered with Rigid. It becomes a second, tighter ceiling; a card with no declared balance gets no stand-in at all.
The same platform, used differently by different teams. Each card names the segment, the outcome, and the products that carry it.
Gateway mode asks your endpoint for every authorization and posts instructions back to your books. Stand-in processing keeps cards working inside limits you declare when your core is unreachable.
Bring the endpoint shape you have today. We run a simulated spend against it during the call.