API Authentication

API Keys

All requests to the AltTextAI API must include an API key. Your API key carries many privileges, so be sure to keep it secure. Don't share your API key in publicly accessible areas such as GitHub, client-side code, or blog posts.

Getting Your API Key

1. Log in to your AltTextAI account
2. Navigate to the API Keys section in your dashboard
3. Click "Generate New API Key"
4. Give your API key a name (e.g., "Production API Key")
5. Copy and securely store your API key

Using Your API Key

Authentication is performed via the HTTP Authorization header with a Bearer token:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Example Request

curl -X POST https://autoalt.app/api/v1/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"image": "base64_encoded_image_data"}'

API Key Best Practices

• Store API keys in environment variables or secure configuration files
• Never commit API keys to version control
• Rotate API keys periodically for enhanced security
• Use different API keys for development and production environments
• Restrict API key access to only the necessary IP addresses when possible

Verifying Your API Key

You can verify your API key is working correctly by making a request to the verify endpoint:

curl -X POST https://autoalt.app/api/v1/verify-api-key \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Successful response:

{
  "valid": true,
  "user_id": "your_user_id",
  "credits_remaining": 100
}

Rate Limits and Credits

API requests are limited by your available credits. Each image processing request consumes 1 credit from your account. You can check your remaining credits using the credits endpoint:

curl https://autoalt.app/api/v1/credits \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Response:

{
  "credits": 100,
  "user_id": "your_user_id"
}

Next Steps

Now that you understand how to authenticate your requests, learn about our available endpoints: