UNunkeyed
keys

Create API key

Changed on

Create a new API key for user authentication and authorization.

Use this endpoint when users sign up, upgrade subscription tiers, or need additional keys. Keys are cryptographically secure and unique to the specified API namespace.

Important: Store the returned key securely. Unless you create a recoverable key, the plaintext cannot be retrieved later. Recoverable keys require key encryption and permission to decrypt them.

Common use cases:

  • Generate keys for new user registrations
  • Create additional keys for different applications
  • Issue keys with specific permissions or limits

Required Permissions

Your credential needs one of:

  • api.*.create_key (create keys in any API)
  • api.<api_id>.create_key (create keys in specific API)
  • unkey:v1:<workspace_id>:keyspaces/*#create_key (create keys in any keyspace)
  • unkey:v1:<workspace_id>:keyspaces/<keyspace_id>#create_key (create keys in a specific keyspace)
post/v2/keys.createKey

Request

  • Base URL
    https://api.unkey.com
  • URL
    https://api.unkey.com/v2/keys.createKey
  • Auth
    HTTP bearer

Request body

apiIdstring required

The API namespace this key belongs to. Keys from different APIs cannot access each other.

prefixstring

Adds a visual identifier to the beginning of the generated key for easier recognition in logs and dashboards. The prefix becomes part of the actual key string (e.g., prod_xxxxxxxxx). Avoid using sensitive information in prefixes as they may appear in logs and error messages.

namestring

Sets a human-readable identifier for internal organization and dashboard display. Never exposed to end users, only visible in management interfaces and API responses. Avoid generic names like "API Key" when managing multiple keys for the same user or service.

byteLengthinteger

Controls the cryptographic strength of the generated key in bytes. Higher values increase security but result in longer keys that may be more annoying to handle. The default 16 bytes provides 2^128 possible combinations, sufficient for most applications. Consider 32 bytes for highly sensitive APIs, but avoid values above 64 bytes unless specifically required.

externalIdstring

Links this key to a user or entity in your system using your own identifier. Returned during verification to identify the key owner without additional database lookups. Essential for user-specific analytics, billing, and multi-tenant key management. Use your primary user ID, organization ID, or tenant ID for best results. Accepts letters, numbers, underscores, dots, and hyphens for flexible identifier formats.

metaobject

Stores arbitrary JSON metadata returned during key verification for contextual information. Eliminates additional database lookups during verification, improving performance for stateless services. Avoid storing sensitive data here as it's returned in verification responses. Large metadata objects increase verification latency and should stay under 10KB total size.

rolesstring[]

Assigns existing roles to this key for permission management through role-based access control. Roles must already exist in your workspace before assignment. During verification, all permissions from assigned roles are checked against requested permissions. Roles provide a convenient way to group permissions and apply consistent access patterns across multiple keys.

permissionsstring[]

Grants specific permissions directly to this key without requiring role membership. Wildcard permissions like documents.* grant access to all sub-permissions including documents.read and documents.write. Direct permissions supplement any permissions inherited from assigned roles.

expiresinteger

Sets when this key automatically expires as a Unix timestamp in milliseconds. Verification fails with code=EXPIRED immediately after this time passes. Omitting this field creates a permanent key that never expires.

Avoid setting timestamps in the past as they immediately invalidate the key. Keys expire based on server time, not client time, which prevents timezone-related issues. Essential for trial periods, temporary access, and security compliance requiring key rotation.

enabledboolean

Controls whether the key is active immediately upon creation. When set to false, the key exists but all verification attempts fail with code=DISABLED. Useful for pre-creating keys that will be activated later or for keys requiring manual approval. Most keys should be created with enabled=true for immediate use.

recoverableboolean

Controls whether the plaintext key is stored in an encrypted vault for later retrieval. When true, allows recovering the actual key value using keys.getKey with decrypt=true. When false, the key value cannot be retrieved after creation for maximum security. Only enable for development keys or when key recovery is absolutely necessary.

Example request

{
  "apiId": "api_1234abcd",
  "prefix": "prod",
  "name": "Payment Service Production Key",
  "byteLength": 24,
  "externalId": "user_1234abcd",
  "meta": {
    "plan": "enterprise",
    "featureFlags": {
      "betaAccess": true,
      "concurrentConnections": 10
    },
    "customerName": "Acme Corp",
    "billing": {
      "tier": "premium",
      "renewal": "2024-12-31"
    }
  },
  "roles": [
    "api_admin",
    "billing_reader"
  ],
  "permissions": [
    "documents.read",
    "documents.write",
    "settings.view"
  ],
  "expires": 1704067200000,
  "credits": {
    "remaining": 1000,
    "refill": {
      "interval": "daily",
      "amount": 1000,
      "refillDay": 15
    }
  },
  "ratelimits": [
    {
      "name": "requests",
      "limit": 100,
      "duration": 60000,
      "autoApply": true
    },
    {
      "name": "heavy_operations",
      "limit": 10,
      "duration": 3600000,
      "autoApply": false
    }
  ],
  "enabled": true
}

Response

Successfully created a new API key. The response includes both the keyId (for reference in your system) and the full key string. Store the key securely. The plaintext cannot be retrieved later unless the key was created as recoverable. Retrieving a recoverable key requires permission to decrypt it.

Example response

{
  "meta": {
    "requestId": "req_123"
  },
  "data": {
    "keyId": "key_2cGKbMxRyIzhCxo1Idjz8q",
    "key": "prod_2cGKbMxRjIzhCxo1IdjH3arELti7Sdyc8w6XYbvtcyuBowPT"
  }
}

Changes

  • 59efaed65ec4Revision changes
    • breaking

      added the pattern ^[a-zA-Z0-9_:\-\.\*]+$ to the request property /

    • info

      the / request property's maxLength was increased from 100 to 128

    • info

      removed the pattern ^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9._-]*$ from the request property

  • 4bd11a7252bcRevision changes
    • info

      the / request property's maxLength was increased from 100 to 128

    • info

      removed the pattern ^[a-zA-Z0-9_:\-\.\*]+$ from the request property /