---
title: "Mint a new API key for the signed-in consumer"
method: POST
path: "/api/v1/account/keys"
tags: ["Account"]
---

# Mint a new API key for the signed-in consumer

`POST /api/v1/account/keys`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://www.apier.no`
- URL: `https://www.apier.no/api/v1/account/keys`
- Auth: API key in cookie `sb-access-token`

Generates a fresh API key for the signed-in consumer. **The plaintext_key field is returned EXACTLY ONCE in the 201 body — record it before leaving the page; the server only persists the SHA-256 hash and cannot reissue.** Atomic max-3-active-keys-per-consumer enforcement via the create_consumer_key RPC's pg_advisory_xact_lock; concurrent POSTs race correctly. Inline rate-limit at 10/hour per consumer, fail-CLOSED. Session-cookie auth — NOT Bearer. NEVER wrapped with withIdempotency: caching the response body would keep plaintext recoverable from the DB for 24h, defeating.

## Request body

- object
  - `name` string, required: Human-readable label shown in the /dashboard keys table. e.g. 'Local dev', 'CI pipeline'.
  - `scopes` string[]: Optional. The scopes the new key carries: any combination of the `read:*` wildcard, the individual read scopes and `fullmakt:write`. Two assignable scopes advertised on GET /api/v1/capabilities are NOT self-mintable and are refused here: `subscribe:webhooks` (a Pro-tier surface) and `admin:keys` (an operator grant). Omitted means the historical default `["read:*"]` — every read scope and nothing else. `read:*` does NOT include `fullmakt:write`: a key that should create agent principals or broker and revoke a fullmakt names it explicitly, e.g. `["read:*", "fullmakt:write"]`. Reserved prefixes (`write:`, `act:`, `delegate:`) are not accepted (400 VALIDATION_FAILED) and are additionally refused by the database CHECK.

## Response `201`

Key minted. plaintext_key is the ONLY copy the consumer will ever see. Response carries the standard X-Correlation-ID + Link tracing headers (applied to every /api/v1/* response) AND the full no-cache directive set `Cache-Control: no-store, private, max-age=0, must-revalidate` + `Pragma: no-cache` + `Expires: 0` — defense in depth so no CDN / SW / proxy ever caches the plaintext body.

- object
  - `success` true, required
  - `data` object, required
    - `id` string, uuid, required
    - `name` string, required
    - `scopes` string[], required: The scopes the key was minted with — the `scopes` sent in the request, or `["read:*"]` when none were sent.
    - `created_at` string, date-time, required
    - `plaintext_key` string, required: ONLY returned here. Never persisted. Never reissued.
  - `_meta` TrustMetadata, required: Metadata included in every response for trust and verifiability.
    - `rulebook_version` string, required: Current Rulebook version. Internal rule-version records carry structured origin metadata (`initial_seed` | `human_review` | `lovdata_drift_response` | `audit_finding` | `customer_question` | `legal_correction`) for operator forensics, but that attribution is deliberately NOT exposed on public responses to avoid leaking operational signal.
    - `data_freshness` string, date-time, required: When this data was last fetched (ISO 8601 UTC).
    - `last_verified` string, date-time, required: When this data was last verified against source (ISO 8601 UTC).
    - `source` string, required: Origin of this data. Defaults to `apier.no`. The agent-readiness probe (`GET /api/v1/health/agent-readiness`) is the one surface that may instead emit `apier.no telemetry` — it does so when at least one of its endpoint rates came from measured live telemetry, and falls back to `apier.no` when every rate is a static default; all other endpoints always emit `apier.no`.
    - `data_source` string: Authoritative origin of the underlying data (listed alongside rulebook_version, data_freshness, last_verified, legal_basis for Rulebook-influenced endpoints). Distinct from `source` (the response origin): `data_source` identifies the authoritative data publisher — e.g. 'Brønnøysund Enhetsregisteret + Apier Universal Rulebook'. Present on registry-backed endpoints.
    - `served_from` 'cache' | 'live' | 'static': Cache-aware endpoints only — 'cache' when the response was served from the local copy, 'live' when the gateway just refreshed from the upstream, 'static' when the payload was computed deterministically from pure code with no DB or upstream read (e.g. /v1/public/deadlines). Absent on endpoints that don't carry this semantic.
    - `stale` boolean: Cache-aware endpoints only — true when the upstream was unreachable and a within-limit cached row was served as a fallback. Absent on normal responses.
    - `schema_version` string, required: OpenAPI contract version at the time of the response; matches `info.version`. Always present on every `/v1/*` response so a future schema break can be traced to the exact rows / audit events that predate / postdate it. Agent-facing machine interfaces (v1/capabilities, workflows.json) may override with their own narrower surface version; all other endpoints inherit the manifest-level version.
    - `legal_basis` string: Legal basis under which the response data is reused. Present on Rulebook-influenced endpoints (v1/company/{org}/obligations, /v1/company/{org}/deadlines). Common value: 'NLOD — public registry reuse'.
    - `rule_count` integer: Rule-evaluation count — total rules evaluated for this request. Present on endpoints that invoke the Rulebook evaluator (v1/company/{org}/obligations).
    - `applicable_count` integer: Count of rules whose evaluation_result is 'applicable'. Present on evaluator endpoints.
    - `not_applicable_count` integer: Count of rules whose evaluation_result is 'not_applicable'. Present on evaluator endpoints.
    - `insufficient_data_count` integer: Count of rules whose evaluation_result is 'insufficient_data' (Tier 2 gated). Present on evaluator endpoints. rule_count = applicable_count + not_applicable_count + insufficient_data_count.
    - `cache_age_ms` integer, nullable: Cache layer: milliseconds since the cached row was computed, or null on a cache miss (served_from === 'live'). Agents use it alongside data_freshness as a staleness signal. Present on endpoints wired to the cache (v1/company/{org}/obligations, /deadlines, /summary, /v1/public/obligations, /v1/public/deadlines).
    - `response_time_ms` integer: Speed signal: total server-side processing time in milliseconds, measured via performance.now() at the route boundary. Mirrored on the `X-Apier-Response-Time-Ms` header so agents can key on it without parsing the body. Present on every endpoint.
    - `response_timestamp` string, date-time: RFC 3339 / ISO 8601 UTC timestamp stamped by the response builder at wire-exit. Mirrored on the `provenance_log.response_timestamp` column by a fire-and-forget writer. Distinct from `data_freshness` (when upstream data was fetched) and `last_verified` (when the citation was verified); this is the moment the envelope left the server. Always populated at runtime — deliberately left out of the `required` list to avoid a cascading contract change that would invalidate every pre-existing example envelope in this spec (append-only response contracts). A future revision may promote it into the `required` list alongside a bulk example refresh.
    - `response_hash` string: SHA-256 hash of the canonical-JSON form of the envelope with `_meta` stripped before hashing, prefixed with `sha256:`. Mirrored on `provenance_log.response_hash` so a consumer can independently re-hash the bytes they received and compare against what we persisted (integrity receipt). Stripping `_meta` is load-bearing: volatile fields (response_time_ms, cache_age_ms, served_from) and the hash itself would otherwise feed into the digest and break the cache-hit-bytewise-identical invariant.
    - `source_snapshot_id` string: Optional free-text pointer into an upstream sync snapshot the response derives from — e.g. a Brreg sync's `brreg-<ISO>` snapshot id. Absent when the response is not tied to a specific upstream snapshot (capabilities, tools, static deadlines).
    - `is_sandbox` true: Present and `true` only when the response was generated from sandbox fixture data (currently `ALTINN_MODE=sandbox` on `/api/v1/altinn/list-acting-capacity`). Absent (NOT `false`) on every other response — the absent-vs-false distinction is deliberate so downstream agents branching on `if (response._meta.is_sandbox)` cannot be misled into treating non-sandbox responses as positively-confirmed-not-sandbox. Distinct from the `/v1/sandbox/*` `is_sandbox: true` literal in `SandboxMeta` (which carries the sandbox surface tag); this flag rides through the production `/api/v1/altinn/*` surface to forensically tag a sandbox-mode response that an OEM evaluator received.
    - `cost_nok` number: What this call debited from the caller's prepaid credit balance, in NOK, rendered from the integer-øre ledger (50 øre → 0.5; the ledger itself never leaves whole øre and no float arithmetic touches a balance). Present on the 2xx body of every metered company-data read — the same debit that sets the `X-Credits-Cost-Ore` header, so the two never disagree. `0` when nothing was charged: credit enforcement running dark (the response then also carries `X-Credit-Check: shadow`) or the sandbox surface. Absent on unmetered endpoints and on error envelopes — a refunded 5xx/403/404 claims no cost rather than a wrong one. Lives under `_meta`, which `response_hash` excludes, so the provenance receipt is unaffected; the route's ETag is computed before the credit wrapper stamps it, so a conditional request can still short-circuit to 304. Append-only addition.
    - `wallet_remaining_nok` number, nullable: The prepaid credit balance remaining AFTER this call's debit, in NOK (same rendering as `cost_nok`; mirrors the `X-Credits-Balance-Ore` header). `null` when no balance was read: credit enforcement running dark, or the sandbox surface. Present wherever `cost_nok` is. An agent planning a sequence of metered calls can divide this by the per-call price from GET /api/v1/pricing to know how many reads remain before a 402 INSUFFICIENT_CREDITS. Append-only addition.
    - `spend_cap_remaining_nok` number: What the calling key may still spend under its tighter spend cap (Europe/Oslo calendar day or month) AFTER this call's debit, in NOK (same rendering as `cost_nok`; never below 0). Present on the 2xx body of a metered read only when credit enforcement is live AND the key has a daily or monthly cap (set with PATCH /api/v1/account/keys/{id}); absent otherwise. When it reaches 0 the next metered call on this key returns 402 SPEND_CAP_REACHED until the cap resets. Append-only addition.

## Other responses

- `400`: Body failed validation (error_code=VALIDATION_FAILED): missing or oversize `name`, an unknown key, or a `scopes` array that is empty, has duplicates, or names a value outside the self-service set (`read:*`, the individual read scopes and `fullmakt:write`): that includes the operator-only `subscribe:webhooks` and `admin:keys` as well as any reserved `write:`/`act:`/`delegate:` prefix. The same 400 on the `scopes` field is returned when the database's key-minting function refuses the set, for example before its scope allowlist has been upgraded to the current vocabulary; the default `["read:*"]` is always accepted.
- `401`: No session cookie.
- `409`: MAX_KEYS_REACHED — consumer already has 3 active keys. fix_steps in explanation guide the user.
- `429`: RATE_LIMITED — more than 10 create attempts within the rolling hour for this consumer. Retry-After header carries the seconds-until-reset.
- `500`: RPC failure or unexpected DB error. No raw error detail leaks to the response.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/apier/apis/apier-no-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/apier/apis/apier-no-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/apier/apis/apier-no-api/revisions/9ec19bc87311?raw)