Authentication

Every metered route needs an API key, sent as a bearer token:

Authorization: Bearer ck_live_…

Create an account and a key

Go to account.close.city and enter your email.
Confirm it with the magic link or six-digit code we send you. Verifying your email credits your one-time signup grant of tokens.
Create an API key. It is shown once, at creation, so copy it then and store it securely. Never put a key in a URL.
Set it as an environment variable so your code and the SDKs can read it:
Terminal window
```
export CLOSECITY_KEY=ck_live_your_key_here
```

Every key begins ck_live_; there is no separate test mode. The free catalog routes below are the safe place to experiment without spending tokens.

You may hold up to three active keys per account. Rotate a key by creating a new one and revoking the old one.

These routes need no key, so you can do all your lookups before spending a token:

Everything else is metered.