Core concepts

## Introduction to Core Concepts

Before diving into specific API endpoints, it's essential to understand the main building blocks of the Lumanu platform. All operations revolve around four key entities: Workspaces, Partners, Payables, and Funding. Understanding how they relate to one another is the key to a successful integration.

Think of your Workspace as your organization's central command center for payments. It's the top-level container that holds all your data and configurations.

Within your Workspace, you onboard Partners (also called Vendors or Creators). These are the individuals or businesses you need to pay. Onboarding them ensures they are properly identified and ready to receive funds.

When you owe a Partner money for a service, you create a Payable. A Payable is the record of a specific financial obligation—it's the "what" and "why" of a payment, representing an approved invoice or a contractual milestone. It's an instruction to pay a specific Partner a specific amount.

Finally, before a Payable can be settled, the Workspace must have sufficient funds. This is where Funding comes in. Funding is the process of adding money to your Workspace balance, either in advance (Pre-funding Flow) or for a specific set of Payables (Post-funding flow).

In short, the entire lifecycle follows a simple logic: you add Funding to your Workspace so you can settle Payables for the Partners you've onboarded. The following sections will explore each of these concepts in detail.

Workspaces

A workspace represents a dedicated payment environment for a Buyer within your platform. The "Buyer" can be either:

• Your end client (when your platform is not in the money flow)
• Your platform's business (when your platform is in the money flow)

Each workspace:

• Has a dedicated Lumanu Wallet with its own account & routing number
• Maintains separate funds, vendor lists, and payment workflows
• Has its own set of financial controls, approval workflows, and security settings
• Supports multiple projects and user roles
• Prevents commingling of funds between different buyers

Partners/Vendors

Vendors are the payees (typically creators/influencers) who receive payments through the Lumanu network. Key aspects:

• Vendors can be invited via email
• Each vendor undergoes automated compliance checks including:
  • Personal ID verification
  • Phone verification
  • Business information and TIN checks
  • OFAC and watchlist screening
  • Bank account validation
• Special verification flows exist for talent management entities
• Once a vendor is onboarded to Lumanu, they will have a unique Lumanu ID that you can use to identify them in the future

Payables

Payables represent individual payment obligations to vendors. They progress through the following statuses:

• draft - Initial state when created
• approved - After approval, ready for funding
• will_pay - Funded and scheduled for payment; this is the terminal status for successful payables
• canceled - Payment canceled

Account/Wallet

Each workspace has an account associated with it called a wallet account. This is the account that can be used to send funds (in the case of a buyer) or receive funds (in the case of a vendor). The wallet has a balance that can be queried, and tracks debit and credit transactions.

Projects

Projects are containers within workspaces that help organize payments, manage budgets, and track spend at a more granular level.

Advanced project features designed for enterprises are available with an enterprise contract with Lumanu. This includes Project Wallets, which enable strict segregation of funds between projects (e.g., for different POs or departments) to support enterprise financial control requirements.

Note: Project actions are currently not available via the Lumanu Partner API.