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Overview

All API calls to your Pinecone index authenticate with an API key for the project containing the target index. If you are using a client, like the Python or Node.js clients, you can initialize a client object, which allows you to provide your API key in one place and use it multiple times. If you are making HTTP requests with a tool like cURL, the HTTP request must include a header that specifies the API key. This topic describes each method.

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Finding your Pinecone API key

To find your API key, open the Pinecone console and click API Keys. This view also displays the environment for your project.

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Initialize a client

To initialize a client with your API key and environment, use the following code: 
import pinecone

pinecone.init(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY", environment="YOUR_ENVIRONMENT")
Function calls with this client use the authentication information provided at initialization. For example: 
# Creates an index using the API key and environment stored in the client 'pinecone'.
pinecone.create_index("auth-guide", dimension=8, metric="euclidean")

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Add a header to an HTTP request

When issuing an HTTP request to Pinecone, each request must contain an Api-Key header that specifies an API key. This API key must be valid for a project in the environment specified in the URL.
curl
curl -i -X POST \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE' \
  https://controller.YOUR_ENVIRONMENT.pinecone.io/databases \
  -d '{
    "name": "auth-guide",
    "dimension": 8,
    "metric": "euclidean"
  }'

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Next steps