Knowledge base

Using API keys safely

Scope them, keep them out of your code, and rotate the one you pasted somewhere by accident.

An API key is a password that does not expire and that nobody watches. Treat it like one.

Give it only what it needs

Create a key per integration, with only the permissions that integration uses. A deployment script does not need billing access, and a monitoring tool does not need to delete sites. When something goes wrong, a narrow key limits what went wrong with it.

Keep it out of your code

Never commit a key to a repository — public or private. Repositories get forked, cloned, backed up and mis-shared, and scanners find keys in them within minutes of a push. Use an environment variable or your CI provider's secret store.

Rotate rather than worry

If a key has been pasted into a chat, a ticket, a screenshot or a log, replace it. Create the new key, switch the integration over, then delete the old one — in that order, so nothing breaks in between. It takes a minute and removes the question entirely.

Watch what they do

Every call a key makes appears in Activity, with the key's name. If a key you thought was retired is still making calls, that tells you something worth knowing.

Deleting

Deleting a key takes effect immediately. Anything using it starts getting 401, which is the point.

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Using API keys safely