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Docs / Contact / entities/api-keys

Entity API Keys

Each entity has one API key, issued automatically when the entity is created. The key authenticates the entity when it sends messages (HTTP or MQTT) and connects to Contact.

Viewing the key

The Connection Instructions dialog opens once, immediately after you create the entity. It is the only place the secret is ever shown.

  1. Copy the API Key (the secret) from the dialog before dismissing it
  2. Copy the API Key ID too — the public identifier used as the MQTT username

The Connection Instructions dialog showing the API Key ID and the masked API Key Secret The secret is masked until you reveal it, and cannot be reopened later.

If the dialog is already gone, the secret is unrecoverable — rotate the key instead.

Caution

The secret is shown once at creation. If you lose it, rotate the key (below) and re-deploy the entity with the new secret.

Rotating

Rotate from Access Control → API Keys:

  1. Find the entity's key in the list
  2. Click the rotate action
  3. Copy the new secret immediately

The API Keys tab in Access Control, listing each key with its role, status, and expiry Access Control → API Keys, where keys are rotated, disabled, and revoked.

Rotation invalidates the old secret right away.

Revoking

Deleting the entity revokes its API key. You can also disable a key from Access Control → API Keys without deleting the entity.

Account-level API keys

If you want a key for your own automation or scripts (not bound to an entity), create one under Access Control → API Keys → Create API Key. Account keys carry an IAM role and can call any endpoint that role permits, but they cannot post entity messages; only entity-bound keys can do that.

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