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

# Payment method token

A payment method token is a string representing sensitive payment method credentials and customer data.

Primer provides [Universal Checkout](/checkout/checkout-builder), our all-in-one Checkout SDK, to securely capture payment method data while fully embedded on your site or in your app.

By communicating directly with Primer's PCI-L1 tokenization service, Universal Checkout transforms sensitive customer data into a secure uniform string called a **payment method token**.

Universal Checkout generates a payment method token regardless of the customer's chosen payment method. This enables you to reason about your checkout flow in a unified way.

<Frame caption="Payment creation">
  <img src="https://goat-assets.production.core.primer.io/marketing/external-docs/concepts/payment-creation/payment-creation.png" />
</Frame>

<Note>
  Our agnostic tokenization service and centralized vault enable you to handle [recurring payments](/get-started/recurring-payments), fallbacks, and retries across processors without compromising UX.

  No more PSP-specific tokens — now **you** own your payment data.
</Note>

## Get a payment method token

The Payments API requires a payment method token to create a payment.

You can get a payment method token from:

* Universal Checkout (see [Manual Payment Creation](/checkout/advanced/manual-payment-creation))
* Primer’s unified vault (see [Save payment methods](/payment-services/save-payment-methods))