> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developer.tazapay.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Authentication

The Tazapay API uses [Basic Access Authentication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_access_authentication) or `BASIC AUTH` to authenticate requests. When you sign up for an account, you can view and manage your keys on [the Tazapay dashboard](https://dashboard.tazapay.com). Tazapay API provides you with two types of keys, the API\_Key and the API\_Secret. You will need to authenticate by providing the base64 encoded key pair in the request Authorization header.

<Info>
  Tazapay has separate keys for both test and live environments. Test keys can be generated automatically by logging into the [sandbox dashboard](https://dashboard-sandbox.tazapay.com/) and live keys by logging into the [live dashboard](https://dashboard.tazapay.com) after clearing KYB.
</Info>

All requests to Tazapay API must be made over HTTPS. Requests over HTTP will fail. Requests without authentication will also fail.

<Note>
  To go from test mode to live mode, you need to change the endpoint URL along with changing the API keys.
</Note>

<Warning>
  **API\_Secret key is "secret" for a reason!**

  Do not share your API keys to any unauthorised parties. This includes publicly accessible areas such as GitHub, client-side code, etc. An unauthorised party can create transactions on your behalf if they get a hold of your API keys.
</Warning>

### How to Authenticate

1. `BASIC AUTH` requires a username and a password combined with a colon. Its format is **username:password**.

   **NOTE:** Your API\_Key will serve as the username and the API\_Secret as the password.

2. The resultant value is encoded into a [Base64](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64) format.

3. Prefix the Base64 encoded value with **Basic** and pass it in the *Authorization* header.

### Example

1. If your API keys are:

```text API Keys theme={null}
API_Key : F2W7H8JWMO8398KAPW85
API_Secret : rKHFAffLq5Lnrms3mOBQi71oQmMATH2EByYDyIR2Wd0jGdKeed08WThGVS6v1257
```

2. Following the `BASIC AUTH` format, the value generated is:

```text BASIC AUTH format theme={null}
F2W7H8JWMO8398KAPW85:rKHFAffLq5Lnrms3mOBQi71oQmMATH2EByYDyIR2Wd0jGdKeed08WThGVS6v1257
```

3. [Encoding the above value](https://www.base64encode.org/) into Base64, the resultant value generated is:

```text Base64 value theme={null}
RjJXN0g4SldNTzgzOThLQVBXODU6cktIRkFmZkxxNUxucm1zM21PQlFpNzFvUW1NQVRIMkVCeVlEeUlSMldkMGpHZEtlZWQwOFdUaEdWUzZ2MTI1Nw==
```

4. Include this Base64 value in the Authorization header with Basic prefix:

```text Authorization header theme={null}
Authorization: Basic RjJXN0g4SldNTzgzOThLQVBXODU6cktIRkFmZkxxNUxucm1zM21PQlFpNzFvUW1NQVRIMkVCeVlEeUlSMldkMGpHZEtlZWQwOFdUaEdWUzZ2MTI1Nw==
```