# Create an API key

**POST** `/admin/projects/{project_id}/api-keys`

:::code-group
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.pinecone.io/admin/projects/{project_id}/api-keys \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'X-Pinecone-Api-Version: <x-pinecone-api-version>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "name": "devkey",
  "roles": [
    "ProjectEditor"
  ]
}'
```

```python title="Python"
import requests

url = "https://api.pinecone.io/admin/projects/{project_id}/api-keys"

payload = {
  "name": "devkey",
  "roles": [
    "ProjectEditor"
  ]
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "X-Pinecone-Api-Version": "<x-pinecone-api-version>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)
```

```javascript title="JavaScript"
const options = {method: "POST", headers: {"Authorization": "Bearer <token>", "X-Pinecone-Api-Version": "<x-pinecone-api-version>", "Content-Type": "application/json"}, body: JSON.stringify({
  "name": "devkey",
  "roles": [
    "ProjectEditor"
  ]
})};

fetch("https://api.pinecone.io/admin/projects/{project_id}/api-keys", options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));
```

```php title="PHP"
<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.pinecone.io/admin/projects/{project_id}/api-keys",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => "{\"name\":\"devkey\",\"roles\":[\"ProjectEditor\"]}",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: <x-pinecone-api-version>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}
```

```go title="Go"
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.pinecone.io/admin/projects/{project_id}/api-keys"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\"name\":\"devkey\",\"roles\":[\"ProjectEditor\"]}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("X-Pinecone-Api-Version", "<x-pinecone-api-version>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
```

```java title="Java"
HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://api.pinecone.io/admin/projects/{project_id}/api-keys")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("X-Pinecone-Api-Version", "<x-pinecone-api-version>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\"name\":\"devkey\",\"roles\":[\"ProjectEditor\"]}")
  .asString();
```

```ruby title="Ruby"
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.pinecone.io/admin/projects/{project_id}/api-keys")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["X-Pinecone-Api-Version"] = '<x-pinecone-api-version>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\"name\":\"devkey\",\"roles\":[\"ProjectEditor\"]}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
```
:::

:::code-group
```json title="201"
{
  "key": {
    "id": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>",
    "project_id": "<string>",
    "roles": [
      "ProjectEditor"
    ]
  },
  "value": "<string>"
}
```

```json title="400"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "INVALID_ARGUMENT",
    "message": "Bad request. The request body included invalid request parameters."
  },
  "status": 400
}
```

```json title="401"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "UNAUTHENTICATED",
    "message": "Invalid API key."
  },
  "status": 401
}
```

```json title="403"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "QUOTA_EXCEEDED",
    "message": "The index exceeds the project quota of 5 pods by 2 pods. Upgrade your account or change the project settings to increase the quota."
  },
  "status": 429
}
```

```json title="500"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "UNKNOWN",
    "message": "Internal server error"
  },
  "status": 500
}
```

```json title="4XX"
{
  "error": {
    "code": "QUOTA_EXCEEDED",
    "message": "The index exceeds the project quota of 5 pods by 2 pods. Upgrade your account or change the project settings to increase the quota."
  },
  "status": 429
}
```
:::

#### Authorizations

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Authorization` | `string` | - |  |

An [access token](/guides/admin-organizations-manage-service-accounts#retrieve-an-access-token) must be provided in the `Authorization` header using the `Bearer` scheme.

#### Headers

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `X-Pinecone-Api-Version` | `string` | `2026-07` | Required date-based version header |

#### Path Parameters

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `project_id` | `string` | - | Project ID |

#### Body

The details of the new API key.

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `name` | `string` | - | The name of the API key. The name must be 1-80 characters long. Required string length: 1 - 80. Example: devkey |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `roles?` | `string[]` | - | The roles to create the API key with. Default is ['ProjectEditor']. |

#### Response

`201` — API key created successfully.

The details of an API key, including the secret. Only returned on API key creation.

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `key` | `object` | - | The details of an API key, without the secret. |

:::accordion{title="Show child attributes"}
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | `string` | - | The unique ID of the API key. |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `name` | `string` | - | The name of the API key. |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `project_id` | `string` | - | The ID of the project containing the API key. |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `roles` | `string[]` | - | The roles assigned to the API key. |
:::

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `value` | `string` | - |  |

The value to use as an API key. New keys will have the format `"pckey_<public-label>_<unique-key>"`. The entire string should be used when authenticating.

## Related pages

- [List API keys](./admin-2-api-keys-list-api-keys.md)
- [Get API key details](./admin-2-api-keys-get-api-key-details.md)
- [Delete an API key](./admin-2-api-keys-delete-an-api-key.md)
- [Update an API key](./admin-2-api-keys-update-an-api-key.md)

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