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

# Quickstart

> Send your first portfolio forecast

## Before you start

You need your **API key** and the **service URL**, both provided by n:lead.
The key goes into the `X-API-Key` header of every request.

## Send a forecast

<Steps>
  <Step title="Prepare the day's series">
    One value per quarter-hour, from local midnight to local midnight
    (Europe/Berlin): **96 values** on a normal day, **92** on the
    spring-forward day, **100** on the fall-back day. Production and
    consumption are separate series, tagged per control area.
  </Step>

  <Step title="POST it">
    ```bash theme={null}
    curl -X POST https://<service-host>/v1/forecasts \
      -H "X-API-Key: $NLEAD_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "delivery_day": "2026-08-01",
        "unit": "MW",
        "series": [
          {"kind": "production",  "control_area": "Amprion", "values": [50.0, 49.5, "... 96 values"]},
          {"kind": "consumption", "control_area": "Amprion", "values": [90.0, 88.2, "... 96 values"]}
        ]
      }'
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the acknowledgment">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "delivery_day": "2026-08-01",
      "interval_count": 96,
      "series_received": 2,
      "total_production_mwh": 1180.5,
      "total_consumption_mwh": 2136.0,
      "input_hash": "7c773276bfec…",
      "status": "received"
    }
    ```

    The daily totals are a quick plausibility check — if they look wrong,
    the submitted series are wrong. The `input_hash` identifies exactly
    this submission; quote it if you need to ask about a delivery day.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## When to send

Send the forecast for delivery day D **day-ahead**, in time for the EPEX
day-ahead auction (gate closure 12:00 CET on D-1; agree your cut-off with
n:lead). Re-send whenever your forecast improves — the latest submission
for a delivery day wins and everything downstream re-runs automatically.

## No forecast to send?

If you only have master data and metered data per customer, the bridge can
build the consumption forecast for you — see
[Data delivery](/data-delivery#option-b-master-and-metered-data).

<Tip>
  Sending an identical payload twice changes nothing (same `input_hash`),
  so retries are safe.
</Tip>