# API authentication

Authenticate every InstantML API call with one of two credentials:

| Credential | Transport | Main use |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Browser session | `instantml_session` HttpOnly cookie | Dashboard after hosted sign-in |
| SDK API key | `Authorization: Bearer instantml_...` | SDK, uploader, import, export, usage, and automation calls |

Bootstrap/operator tokens are intentionally outside the public hosted API
contract.

## Call the API with a key

Send an API key as a bearer token on any direct HTTP call:

```bash
curl https://api.instantml.ai/projects \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer instantml_..."
```

Create and manage keys in [dashboard settings](/docs/dashboard/settings-api-keys.md).
Each key carries explicit scopes such as `sdk:ingest` (writes), `export:read`
(reads), `artifacts:write`, `imports:write`, `runs:control`, and `usage:read`.
Endpoint pages state the scope each route needs.

## Use the base URL

All examples in this section target the hosted public router:

```text
https://api.instantml.ai
```

The current public client contract is one stable API base URL. The frontend
usually calls the API through same-origin Next rewrites, while SDK/API-key
clients call the API base directly.

## Configure the SDK

Set an API key in the environment:

```bash
export INSTANTML_API_KEY="instantml_..."
```

Or pass it directly:

```python
import instantml as im

run = im.init(
    project="demo",
    api_key="instantml_...",
    base_url="https://api.instantml.ai",
)
```

## Handle common errors

All JSON API errors use HTTP status codes and a body with at least an `error`
string. Some errors also include a stable `code`.

Hosted tenant warehouse wake/start failures return `503` with
`code: "warehouse_unavailable"`. Treat this as a retryable "warehouse is
starting" state, not as an authentication failure.

## Next steps

- [Create and scope API keys](/docs/dashboard/settings-api-keys.md)
- [Install the SDK and log in](/docs/sdk/installation-auth.md)
- [Handle errors, pagination, and limits](/docs/api/errors-and-limits.md)
- [Create projects and runs over HTTP](/docs/api/projects-runs.md)

## Agent navigation

- [Docs index](/llms.txt)
- [Full docs bundle](/llms-full.txt)

### Get Started

- [Overview](/docs/index.md)
- [Quickstart](/docs/quickstart.md)
- [Core Concepts](/docs/concepts/core-concepts.md)
- [Pricing](/docs/pricing.md)
- [Benchmarks](/docs/benchmarks.md)
- [Examples](/docs/guides/examples.md)
- [Troubleshooting](/docs/troubleshooting.md)

### SDK

- [Installation Auth](/docs/sdk/installation-auth.md)
- [Logging](/docs/sdk/logging.md)
- [Tracing](/docs/sdk/tracing.md)
- [Metrics Steps](/docs/sdk/metrics-steps.md)
- [Config Tags Notes](/docs/sdk/config-tags-notes.md)
- [Artifacts Checkpoints](/docs/sdk/artifacts-checkpoints.md)
- [Rich Objects](/docs/sdk/rich-objects.md)
- [Distributed Training](/docs/sdk/distributed-training.md)
- [Console System Integrations](/docs/sdk/console-system-integrations.md)
- [Reliability](/docs/sdk/reliability.md)
- [Cli Login](/docs/sdk/cli-login.md)
- [Querying Data](/docs/sdk/querying-data.md)
- [Agent Mcp](/docs/sdk/agent-mcp.md)
- [Examples Patterns](/docs/sdk/examples-patterns.md)

### Integrations

- [Overview](/docs/integrations/overview.md)
- [Pytorch Lightning](/docs/integrations/pytorch-lightning.md)
- [Huggingface Transformers](/docs/integrations/huggingface-transformers.md)
- [Keras](/docs/integrations/keras.md)
- [Wandb](/docs/integrations/wandb.md)

### Dashboard

- [Tour](/docs/dashboard/tour.md)
- [Organizations Workspaces](/docs/dashboard/organizations-workspaces.md)
- [Runs Workspace](/docs/dashboard/runs-workspace.md)
- [Metrics Charts](/docs/dashboard/metrics-charts.md)
- [Run Detail](/docs/dashboard/run-detail.md)
- [Traces](/docs/dashboard/traces.md)
- [Compare Runs](/docs/dashboard/compare-runs.md)
- [Research Dashboards](/docs/dashboard/research-dashboards.md)
- [Artifacts Files](/docs/dashboard/artifacts-files.md)
- [Run Health](/docs/dashboard/alerts.md)
- [Datasets](/docs/dashboard/datasets.md)
- [Checkpoints](/docs/dashboard/checkpoints.md)
- [Reports](/docs/dashboard/reports.md)
- [Settings Api Keys](/docs/dashboard/settings-api-keys.md)
- [Api Tab](/docs/dashboard/api-tab.md)
- [Onboarding Team Billing](/docs/dashboard/onboarding-team-billing.md)

### Data

- [Imports](/docs/guides/imports.md)
- [W&B alternative](/docs/guides/wandb-alternative.md)
- [InstantML vs MLflow](/docs/guides/instantml-vs-mlflow.md)
- [W&B import guide](/docs/guides/wandb-import-guide.md)
- [W&B and Neptune imports](/docs/guides/wandb-neptune-imports.md)
- [Export Usage Limits](/docs/guides/export-usage-limits.md)
- [Pricing Limits Billing](/docs/guides/pricing-limits-billing.md)
- [Auth Billing Storage](/docs/guides/auth-billing-storage.md)
- [Customer Owned Clickhouse](/docs/guides/customer-owned-clickhouse.md)
- [Observability](/docs/guides/observability.md)

### API

**Practical API guides**

- [Authentication](/docs/api/authentication.md) (current page)
- [Errors And Limits](/docs/api/errors-and-limits.md)
- [Health Observability](/docs/api/health-observability.md)
- [Projects Runs](/docs/api/projects-runs.md)
- [Metrics Series](/docs/api/metrics-series.md)
- [Attributes Objects](/docs/api/attributes-objects.md)
- [Artifacts](/docs/api/artifacts.md)
- [Reports](/docs/api/reports.md)
- [Iframe Embeds](/docs/api/iframe-embeds.md)
- [Import Export Usage](/docs/api/import-export-usage.md)
- [Dashboard Control State](/docs/api/dashboard-control-state.md)
**Architecture**

- [System Overview](/docs/architecture/system-overview.md)
- [Service Planes](/docs/architecture/service-planes.md)
- [Storage Model](/docs/architecture/storage-model.md)
- [Google Clickhouse](/docs/architecture/google-clickhouse.md)
- [Auth Tenancy](/docs/architecture/auth-tenancy.md)
- [Schema Reference](/docs/architecture/schema-reference.md)

### API Reference

- [API Reference](/docs/api-reference.md)