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

# Introduction

> Verifiable parametric determination — and, if you want it, settlement — for crop & livestock cover.

MicroCrop is parametric insurance **infrastructure** for African smallholder farmers. As a
partner — an insurer, reinsurer, cooperative, MFI or agtech platform — you integrate our
API to register farmers, price and sell index cover, and get a **signed, independently
verifiable determination** of whether the trigger fired and by how much.

What we do with the money after that is a commercial choice, and it is the one decision
that shapes your whole integration:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="DETERMINATION (Tier 1)" icon="signature">
    We determine. **You settle** the farmer, off-platform, off your own balance sheet.
    We never touch the money.
  </Card>

  <Card title="DETERMINATION_AND_SETTLEMENT (Tier 2)" icon="hand-holding-dollar">
    We determine **and** originate and settle the payout to the farmer.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

New organizations start on `DETERMINATION`. Read
[Service tiers](/guides/service-tiers) before you build anything.

## What you can build

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Onboard farmers" icon="users">
    Register farmers and their plots or herds, with KYC.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Quote & sell cover" icon="file-shield">
    Price crop (sum-insured) and livestock (IBLI) cover, then issue policies.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Verifiable determinations" icon="shield-check">
    A signed, chain-neutral, currency-neutral determination plus an evidence package
    your regulator or reinsurer can re-verify without asking us anything.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Settlement, if you want it" icon="mobile">
    On Tier 2, M-Pesa premium collection and automated index-triggered payouts.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## How it works

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
  A[Register farmer] --> B[Quote]
  B --> C[Purchase policy<br/>settlementMode frozen]
  C --> D{Premium}
  D -->|Tier 1| E1[You collect,<br/>PUT /activate]
  D -->|Tier 2| E2[M-Pesa STK push]
  E1 --> F[Policy ACTIVE]
  E2 --> F
  F --> G[Index evaluated]
  G --> H[Signed determination<br/>+ evidence package]
  H -->|Tier 1| I1[You settle the farmer,<br/>then report it back]
  H -->|Tier 2| I2[MicroCrop settles the farmer]
```

## Where our responsibility ends

We are explicit about this because it is the product. On **Tier 1** MicroCrop determines
whether the trigger fired and issues the signed determination and evidence package.
MicroCrop does **not** collect premium, does not hold your capital, does not pay the
farmer, and does not verify that you did. The obligation to the farmer is yours, and the
API says so on every response. See [Service tiers](/guides/service-tiers).

## Before you start

Integration is gated on **KYB verification** (including your insurance regulator's
operating licence) and on **underwriting capacity** recorded with MicroCrop. Read
[Requirements](/requirements) first, then follow the [Quickstart](/quickstart).

<Note>
  **Base URL:** all endpoints live under `https://app.microcrop.app/api`.
  Authentication uses an organization **API key** in the `x-api-key` header — see
  [Authentication](/authentication).
</Note>