Learn how to create and manage an API key with ArcGIS Online using API key credentials.
An API key is a long-lived access token that authorizes your application to access secure services, content, and functionality in ArcGIS. API keys are generated using API key credentials, a type of item you create and manage in your portal. API key credentials contain settings that allow you to generate API keys and manage properties such as their privileges and expiration date.
This tutorial shows you how to use your portal to create API key credentials to do the following:
-
Generate long-lived API keys and save them in your application.
-
Configure privileges to allow your API keys to access ArcGIS services, content, and functionality.
-
Set the expiration date and referrer URLs of an API key.
-
Manage API keys using the item page of your API key credentials.
This tutorial focuses on creating an API key for a public application with access to location services.
Prerequisites
-
You need an ArcGIS Online account with the correct user type and role. Please review the Product and account requirements before proceeding.
-
You need to know the privileges to assign to your API key. The privileges assigned to a key allow your application to access specific ArcGIS services and resources.
Steps
Sign in to your portal
You use your portal to create and manage items, including API key credentials.
- Sign in to your portal with your ArcGIS Online account.
Create an API key credential
-
In your portal, click Content > My content > New item.
-
Click Developer credentials > API key credentials and click Next.
Need troubleshooting help?
If the Developer credentials option is not visible when creating a new item, your ArcGIS Online account does not have the correct permissions. You need an ArcGIS account with a user type of Creator or higher. Learn more about user types in the ArcGIS Online documentation.
If the API key credentials option is not visible when creating developer credentials, your ArcGIS Online account does not have the correct permissions. You need an ArcGIS account with a user type of Creator or higher. Your account must also have these additional privileges:
- General privileges > Content > Generate API keys
- General privileges > Content > Assign privileges to OAuth 2.0 applications
Your organization administrator can grant you these privileges using a custom role. To learn how, go to the ArcGIS Online documentation.
Select application type
You can configure your API key credentials in this menu to align their capabilities with the type of application you are building. This menu determines the privileges that will be available for selection in the next steps.
-
In the Where will you use these credentials? menu, select Public application.
-
Click Next.
Select item privileges (optional)
If your application will require access to specific private items, you will need to configure your developer credentials to access them. The Item access menu allows you to browse your portal's content and grant your API key access to specific items.
-
If your token does not require item access, select No item access. Then, click Next.
-
Otherwise, select Grant access to specific items.
-
Select the items you want to grant access to. You can select up to 100 items in this menu.
-
Click Next.
Select service privileges
You can configure the settings of API key credentials to configure the privileges of generated API keys. For an API key to work in your application, it needs to have the correct privileges to access the content and services your app is using. Select the privileges your app requires in this menu.
-
In the Create developer credentials > Privileges window, select the privileges required by your application.
Learn more about privileges
Browse the table below to view available privileges, privilege strings, and descriptions for ArcGIS Online:
-
Click Next.
Need troubleshooting help?
If the Privileges window is not visible when creating API key credentials, your ArcGIS Online account does not have the correct permissions. You need an ArcGIS account with a user type of Creator or higher. Your account must also have these additional privileges:
- General privileges > Content > Generate API keys
- General privileges > Content > Assign privileges to OAuth 2.0 applications
Your organization administrator can grant you these privileges using a custom role. To learn how, go to the ArcGIS Online documentation.
If you don't see a specific privilege in the Privileges window, there are several possible reasons:
- The application type you selected may only allow a limited set of privileges. To access a broader set of privileges, choose a different type of application in the Where will you use these credentials? menu.
- Certain location services are only available for ArcGIS Location Platform. Check the privileges available for your product type in Security and authentication > Privileges.
- If you have an ArcGIS Location Platform account, you need to enable pay-as-you-go in the Billing section of your dashboard to access some services, such as the GeoEnrichment service.
- If you have an ArcGIS Online account, your account may not have the correct role to access the services you need. Contact your organization administrator.
Set the expiration date and referrers
API key credentials generate long-lived access tokens called API keys. API keys are valid for up to one year, and their expiration date is set when they are generated. You can also set referrers on an API key, which restrict the key to only be usable from authorized domains.
-
In the Create developer credentials window, click on the Expiration date field. Set the expiration date of the access token to one month from today's date.
-
Set the Referrers field to the web domains you would like to restrict the access token to. This is highly recommended for security purposes. To learn more about referrers, go to API key credentials.
-
Click Next.
Save the item
After configuring the properties of your API key credentials, save the credentials as a new item.
-
In the Create developer credentials window, set the following properties:
- Title:
My API key credentials - Folder:
Developer credentials(Create a new folder) - Tags: Add tags related to the privileges of the credentials.
- Description: Describe the application that these developer credentials will be used in.
Click Next.
- Title:
-
In the Summary window, review the properties, privileges, and item access you have set.
-
Click Next.
Copy the API key
-
In the Create developer credentials > Generate API key window, select Generate the API key and go to item details page. I am ready to copy and save the key.
-
Click Next.
-
Copy the API key from the window that appears and paste it into your application.
What's next?
Learn how to manage your API key credentials to generate additional keys, edit credential settings, and implement key rotation in the following tutorials:
Manage API key credentials
Manage previously created API key credentials to regenerate, edit privileges, and edit item access of API keys.