---
title: "Getting Your API Key"
description: "Learn how to obtain and manage your Arcade API key"
---

import { Steps, Tabs, Callout } from "nextra/components";
import { SignupLink } from "@/app/_components/analytics";

# Getting Your API Key

Before you begin, you'll need an Arcade account - if you haven't created one yet, you can <SignupLink linkLocation="docs:get-api-key">sign up here</SignupLink>. Once you have an account, you can generate API keys through either the dashboard or CLI.

<Tabs items={["Dashboard", "CLI"]}>

<Tabs.Tab>

### Using the Dashboard

<div className="flex justify-center my-4">
  <video
    src="/videos/API_Keys.mp4"
    autoPlay
    muted
    playsInline
    className="w-full max-w-[900px] rounded-xl shadow-2xl"
    controls
  ></video>
</div>

<Steps>
### Navigate to API Keys page
Visit the [API Keys page](https://api.arcade.dev/dashboard/api-keys) in Arcade Dashboard.

### Create a new API key

1. Click the `Create API Key` button in the top right
2. Enter a descriptive name to help identify your key
3. Click `Create API Key` to generate your key

### Save your API key securely

1. Copy your API key immediately. It only shows once.
2. Store it securely
3. You can always generate new keys if needed

</Steps>

</Tabs.Tab>

<Tabs.Tab>

### Using the CLI

<Steps>

### Install and login

1. Install the Arcade CLI:

<Tabs items={["uv", "pip"]}>
<Tabs.Tab>

```bash
uv tool install arcade-mcp
```

<Callout type="info">
  This will install the Arcade CLI as a [uv
  tool](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/guides/tools/#installing-tools), making it
  available system wide.
</Callout>

</Tabs.Tab>
<Tabs.Tab>
```bash
pip install arcade-mcp
```
</Tabs.Tab>
</Tabs>

2. Start the login process:

```bash
arcade login
```

### Complete setup

The CLI will automatically:

- Print your API key to the console
- Save your credentials to `~/.arcade/credentials.yaml`

</Steps>

</Tabs.Tab>
</Tabs>

<Callout type="warning">
  API keys are administrator credentials. Anyone who has your API key can make
  requests to Arcade as you. Always store your API keys in a safe place, such as
  system environment variables, and never commit them to version control, share
  them publicly, or use them in browser or frontend code.
</Callout>
## Next Steps

Once you have your API key, you can:

- [Start using tools](/get-started/quickstarts/call-tool-agent)
- [Create custom tools](/guides/create-tools/tool-basics/build-mcp-server)