Authentication

Secure your API requests with Bearer token authentication

Overview

The Ordinal API uses Bearer token authentication. All API requests must include a valid API key in the Authorization header.

Authorization: Bearer ord_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Generating an API Key

Navigate to Workspace Settings

Go to the API Keys page in your workspace.

Open API Keys Section

Click on the “API Keys” tab in the settings menu.

Create New Key

Click “Create an API Key” and provide a descriptive name for the key.

Copy Your Key

Copy the generated API key immediately. For security reasons, the full key is only shown once.

Making Authenticated Requests

Include your API key in the Authorization header with the Bearer prefix:

curl -X GET "https://app.tryordinal.com/api/v1/workspace" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ord_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

const response = await fetch('https://app.tryordinal.com/api/v1/workspace', {
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer ord_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'
  }
});

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://app.tryordinal.com/api/v1/workspace',
    headers={'Authorization': 'Bearer ord_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'}
)

Authentication Errors

When authentication fails, the API returns specific error codes to help you diagnose the issue.

Missing Token

If no authorization header is provided:

{
  "code": "UNAUTHORIZED",
  "message": "Missing bearer token"
}

Status Code: 401 Unauthorized

Invalid or Not Found

If the API key is invalid or doesn’t exist:

{
  "code": "UNAUTHORIZED",
  "message": "Invalid or unauthorized API key"
}

Status Code: 401 Unauthorized

Rate Limited

If you’ve exceeded the rate limit for your workspace:

{
  "code": "TOO_MANY_REQUESTS",
  "message": "Rate limit of 100 requests per 60s exceeded. Quota resets in 45 seconds"
}

Status Code: 429 Too Many Requests