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Software Engineering vocabulary · APIs, Networking and Security

API key

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCommon term

In software engineering, API key means: A unique secret code that a program sends with its requests so that the API can identify who is calling and decide what they are allowed to do.

In Turkish: API anahtarı

How it is used

You generate, rotate or revoke an API key in a provider's dashboard. Keys must stay secret: never commit them to a repository or put them in front-end code. If a key leaks, rotate it immediately.

Example sentences

  1. Someone pushed an API key to the public repo, so we rotated it within an hour.

  2. Each customer gets their own API key, so we can track usage per account.

Common collocations

  • generate an API key
  • rotate an API key
  • revoke an API key
  • leaked API key
  • APIShort for application programming interface: a set of rules that lets one program ask another program for data or actions in a fixed, documented way.
  • authenticationThe process of checking who a user or system is, for example with a password, a token or a fingerprint, before giving access.
  • tokenA string of characters that proves a user or app has already logged in or has permission. It is sent with each request instead of a password.
  • rate limitA cap on how many requests a client may send to an API in a given time, for example 100 requests per minute, to protect the service from overload or abuse.

More terms: APIs, Networking and Security

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