Detail API authentication: Bearer tokens and API keys

Detail authenticates API requests using Bearer tokens. Include your API key in the Authorization header of every request — the API does not support cookie-based auth or query-string tokens.

Header format

Authorization: Bearer dtl_live_YOUR_KEY

Every request must carry this header, regardless of the endpoint.

Example request

curl https://api.detail.dev/public/v1/user \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer dtl_live_YOUR_KEY"

Obtaining an API key

Sign in at app.detail.dev.
Navigate to Settings → API Keys.
Click Create key, give it a name, and copy the key value immediately — it will not be shown again.

Key format

API keys come in two types, distinguished by their prefix:

Prefix	Use
`dtl_live_`	Production keys — authenticate against live data
`dtl_test_`	Test keys — for development and CI environments

dtl_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
dtl_test_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Never embed API keys in client-side code, commit them to version control, or share them in public channels. Use environment variables or a secrets manager to inject keys at runtime.

Error responses

If authentication fails, the API returns a JSON error body alongside the HTTP error status.

Status	Error type	Cause
`401`	`DETAIL_AUTHENTICATION_ERROR`	The `Authorization` header is missing or the token is invalid
`403`	`AUTHORIZATION_ERROR`	The token is valid but does not have permission to access the requested resource

A 401 response looks like this:

{
  "type": "DETAIL_AUTHENTICATION_ERROR",
  "message": "Invalid or missing API key",
  "statusCode": 401
}

If you receive a 403, check that the API key belongs to an account that has access to the organization or repository you are querying.

Overview

Endpoints

Detail API authentication: Bearer tokens and API keys

Header format

Example request

Obtaining an API key

Key format

Error responses

​Header format

​Example request

​Obtaining an API key

​Key format

​Error responses

Header format

Example request

Obtaining an API key

Key format

Error responses