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# Quickstart

The Silktide API is REST over HTTPS. You send JSON, you get JSON back, and every request carries your API key. Here is the shortest path from nothing to a working request.

## Create an API key

An account administrator creates keys in Silktide:

1. Sign in to Silktide.
2. Open **Settings**, then **API**.
3. Create a key, give it a name you will recognize later, and copy it.

A key can read and change your account the way an administrator can, so treat it like a password. Keep it out of source control and out of anything that runs in a browser. You can show a key again later, or delete it; anything still using a deleted key stops at once. [More about the API screen](https://docs.silktide.com/settings/screens/api).

Put the key in an environment variable so the examples on this site work as they are:

```bash
export SILKTIDE_API_KEY="paste your key here"
```

## Find your region

Every Silktide account lives in one region, and each region has its own API host. A key works only on its own region's host.

| Region | API host |
| --- | --- |
| Europe | `https://api.eu.silktide.com` |
| United States | `https://api.us.silktide.com` |
| Australia | `https://api.au.silktide.com` |

Not sure which is yours? Sign in to Silktide and look at the address bar: it contains `eu`, `us` or `au`. Choose your region in the request examples on this site, and they will use that host.

## Make your first request

Ask for the websites in your account:

```bash
curl https://api.eu.silktide.com/v1/websites \
  -H "Authorization: silktide token=$SILKTIDE_API_KEY"
```

A `200` with a list of websites means everything works. The response looks like this, with your own websites in it:

```json
{
  "websites": [
    {
      "subsiteId": "2-0",
      "websiteId": 2,
      "sectionId": 0,
      "name": "Fake University",
      "homeUrl": "https://fake-university.example/",
      "websiteStatus": "live",
      "numPages": 812,
      "numDocuments": 40
    }
  ]
}
```

If you get `401`, the key is wrong or belongs to another region. See [Authentication](https://developers.silktide.com/guides/authentication.md).

## Try it without writing code

Every operation's page has a **Try it** panel. Paste your key, choose your region, and send the request from your browser. Your key stays in that browser tab and goes only to the Silktide API.

## Next steps

- [Add a website and read its scores](https://developers.silktide.com/guides/add-a-website.md), from start to finish.
- [Errors](https://developers.silktide.com/v1/concepts/errors.md), so your code can tell what went wrong.
- [Rate limits](https://developers.silktide.com/v1/concepts/rate-limits.md), before you write a loop.
- The [OpenAPI document](https://developers.silktide.com/v1/openapi.json), to generate a client or import the API into Postman.
- [Build with a coding agent](https://developers.silktide.com/guides/build-with-a-coding-agent.md), to point Cursor, Claude Code or Codex at these docs.