This document describes how to authenticate the Pinecone CLI to manage your Pinecone resources.

## Authentication methods

| Method                              | Admin API | Control/data plane | Best for                         |
| ----------------------------------- | --------- | ------------------ | -------------------------------- |
| [User login](#user-login)           | ✅         | ✅                  | Interactive use                  |
| [Service account](#service-account) | ✅         | ✅                  | Automation with Admin API access |
| [API key](#api-key)                 | ❌         | ✅                  | Simple automation, CI/CD         |

### User login

Authenticate through a web browser. The token refreshes automatically and stays valid for up to 120 days (re-auth required after 30 days of inactivity).

```bash theme={null}
pc auth login
```

The CLI auto-targets your default organization and its first project. Change with `pc target -o "my-org" -p "my-project"`.

### Service account

Authenticate with credentials from a [service account](/guides/admin-organizations-manage-service-accounts).

```bash theme={null}
pc auth configure --client-id "ID" --client-secret "SECRET"

# Or via environment variables
export PINECONE_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"
export PINECONE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret"
```

The CLI auto-targets the service account's organization. For projects: auto-selects if one exists, prompts if multiple exist, or set manually with `pc target -p "my-project"`.

### API key

Authenticate with an [API key](/guides/admin-projects-manage-api-keys). API keys can't access the Admin API.

```bash theme={null}
pc auth configure --api-key "YOUR_API_KEY"

# Or via environment variable
export PINECONE_API_KEY="your-api-key"
```

:::callout{intent="warning"}
API keys are scoped to a specific project. When set, control/data plane operations use the **key's project**, ignoring any [target context](/guides/cli-target-context) you've set.
:::

## Auth priority

When multiple credentials exist, the CLI chooses based on operation type. Within each credential type, environment variables take precedence over stored configuration.

**Control/data plane operations:**

1. API key
2. User login token (via [managed keys](#managed-keys))
3. Service account (via [managed keys](#managed-keys))

**Admin API operations:**

1. User login token
2. Service account

:::callout{intent="note"}
User login and service account are mutually exclusive when configured via CLI commands—each clears the other. However, service account env vars don't clear a stored user login token.
:::

**Example scenarios:**

- If `PINECONE_API_KEY` is set, the CLI uses it for control/data plane operations, regardless of any stored API key.
- If you're logged in via `pc auth login` and also have `PINECONE_CLIENT_ID`/`PINECONE_CLIENT_SECRET` set, the user login token is used for everything—the service account env vars are ignored.
- If you have an API key configured and are also logged in, the API key is used for control/data plane operations, but user login is used for Admin API operations (since API keys can't access Admin API).

## Managed keys

When using user login or service account (without a default API key), the CLI automatically creates and manages API keys for control/data plane operations. This happens transparently on first use.

- **Stored locally:** `~/.config/pinecone/secrets.yaml` (permissions 0600)
- **Stored remotely:** Visible in console as `pinecone-cli-{id}` with origin `cli_created`

```bash theme={null}
# List locally tracked managed keys
pc auth local-keys list

# Delete managed keys (local + remote)
pc auth local-keys prune

# Delete only CLI-created managed keys
pc auth local-keys prune --origin cli

# Delete only user-created managed keys
pc auth local-keys prune --origin user

# Delete a specific API key by ID
pc api-key delete --id "KEY_ID"
```

:::callout{intent="note"}
When you run `pc api-key create --store` for a project that already has a CLI-created managed key, the CLI automatically deletes the old remote key before storing the new one.
:::

## Logging out

```bash theme={null}
pc auth logout
```

Clears all local auth data: tokens, credentials, API keys, managed keys, and [target context](/guides/cli-target-context).

:::callout{intent="note"}
`pc auth logout` doesn't delete managed keys from Pinecone's servers. Run `pc auth local-keys prune` first for full cleanup.
:::

## Local storage

Auth data is stored in `~/.config/pinecone/` with 0600 permissions:

| File           | Contents                                                         |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `secrets.yaml` | OAuth token, service account credentials, API keys, managed keys |
| `state.yaml`   | Target org/project                                               |
| `config.yaml`  | CLI settings (color, environment)                                |

## Check status

```bash theme={null}
pc auth status
```

Shows your current authentication method, target organization and project, token expiration (for user login), and environment configuration.

## Related pages

- [Account management](./account-management-index.md)
- [Admin](./admin-2-index.md)
- [Admin](./admin-index.md)
- [APIs](./apis-index.md)
- [Architecture](./architecture-index.md)
- [Assistants](./assistants-index.md)
- [Bring Your Own Cloud](./bring-your-own-cloud-index.md)
- [Build an assistant](./build-an-assistant-index.md)
- [Build an integration](./build-an-integration-index.md)
- [Changelog](./changelog-index.md)

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