> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.aevo.xyz/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.aevo.xyz/api-reference/urls/authentication.md).

# Authentication

There are two methods for authentication:

* Using API key and secret
* Using signature (HMAC SHA256)

## Authenticate Using API Key and Secret

***

To authenticate with this method, the following headers should be sent with the request:

```json
"AEVO-KEY": `[Insert API key]`
"AEVO-SECRET": `[Insert API secret]`
```

Refer to [API key setup](https://docs.aevo.xyz/reference/api-key-setup-via-ui) to generate your API key and secret.

## Authenticate Using Signature (HMAC SHA256)

***

> 👍 Keep your API secret safe!
>
> Using signature is a safer method of authenticating since your API secret is not passed along in the requests. This prevents potential API secret leakage during transport.

To authenticate with this method, the following headers should be sent with the request:

```json
"AEVO-TIMESTAMP": `[Insert UNIX timestamp in nanoseconds]`
"AEVO-SIGNATURE": `[Insert HMAC SHA256 signature]`
"AEVO-KEY": `[Insert API key]`
```

* `AEVO_SIGNATURE` is generated by performing `HMAC_SHA256(apiSecret, message)`.
* `message` is a concatenation of `apiKey,timestamp,httpMethod,path,body` with comma separation.
* `timestamp` is UNIX timestamp in nanoseconds.
* `httpMethod` is HTTP method (`GET`, `POST`, `DELETE`). **Must be uppercase**.
* `apiKey`, `timestamp`, `httpMethod`, `path`, `body` are all required. If the request does not have any `body`, use a blank space for the value of `body`.

**Example: GET /account**

* `apiKey`: `API_KEY`
* `timestamp`: 1673425955575713842
* `httpMethod`: "GET" (uppercase, case sensitive)
* `path`: "/account"
* `body`: ""

```
signature = HMAC_SHA256("API_KEY,1673425955575713842,GET,/account,")
```

> 📘 Note!
>
> There is a trailing comma in the `message`, since the `body` of a GET request is empty.

```python
# Code Example

import os
import time
import json
import hmac
import hashlib
import requests

API_KEY = os.environ["API_KEY"]
API_SECRET = os.environ["API_SECRET"]

def get_headers(path, method, body):
    timestamp = str(time.time_ns())

    # If the body is empty, it would look like:
    # concat = 'API_KEY,1673425955575713842,GET,/account,'
    concat = f"{API_KEY},{timestamp},{method.upper()},{path},{body}".encode("utf-8")
    signature = hmac.new(API_SECRET.encode("utf-8"), concat, hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()

    headers = {
        "AEVO-TIMESTAMP": timestamp,
        "AEVO-SIGNATURE": signature,
        "AEVO-KEY": API_KEY,
    }

    return headers


# GET method - you pass in an empty string as the body
headers = get_headers("/account", "GET", "")
req = requests.get("https://api-testnet.aevo.xyz/account", headers=headers)
print(req.json())

# POST method - you have to pass in the JSON string used in the request body
body = json.dumps({"name": "My API key"})
print(body)
headers = get_headers("/api-key", "POST", body)
req = requests.post("https://api-testnet.aevo.xyz/api-keys",
                    headers=headers,
                    data=body)
print(req.json())
```