---
title: "Authentication"
description: "Choose the credential accepted by each Tooluse.net API surface."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.tooluse.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Authentication

<h2 id="credential-types">Credential types</h2>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Credential</th>
<th>Scope</th>
<th>Lifetime</th>
<th>Use</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Clerk session</td>
<td>One signed-in person</td>
<td>Session-managed</td>
<td>Console and session-only routes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Personal access token</td>
<td>The issuing developer</td>
<td>1–365 days</td>
<td>Management API except session-only routes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Agent key</td>
<td>One application</td>
<td>1–90 days</td>
<td><code>/v1/agent/**</code> operations</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Private integration credential</td>
<td>One internal boundary</td>
<td>Configuration-defined</td>
<td>Webhooks and <code>/v1/internal/**</code> only</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Personal access tokens use the <code>amqp_</code> prefix. Agent keys use <code>amq_</code>. Both secrets are returned once; list endpoints return metadata only.</p>
<h2 id="bearer-requests">Bearer requests</h2>
<pre><code class="language-http">Authorization: Bearer &lt;credential&gt;</code></pre>
<p>An Agent key grants every currently enabled, supported operation for its application. The legacy <code>operationIds</code> field on key issuance is accepted for compatibility but ignored.</p>
<h2 id="session-only-routes">Session-only routes</h2>
<p>Developer tokens cannot call token management, invitation preview or acceptance, device approval, or Stripe top-up routes. These operations require the person to be interactively signed in.</p>
<p>Treat every key as a secret. Keep credentials server-side, and never place them
in browser code, prompts, URLs, logs, or source control. Revoke or rotate a key
as soon as it may have been exposed.</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="/reference/authentication">Authentication matrix</a></li>
<li><a href="/reference/api#developer-account-and-applications">Applications and members</a></li>
</ul>

Source: https://help.tooluse.net/getting-started/authentication/index.mdx