API Keys

API keys provide programmatic access to the Hooklistener API. They authenticate requests and determine which organization's data you can access.

Key format

All API keys start with the hklst_ prefix:

hklst_a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0...

Creating API keys

Dashboard

1. Go to Organization Settings > API Keys
2. Click Create API Key
3. Enter a descriptive name (e.g., "CI/CD Pipeline", "Development")
4. Click Create
5. Copy the key immediately — it's only shown once

API

curl -X POST https://app.hooklistener.com/api/v1/organizations/<org-id>/api-keys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hklst_existing_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "CI/CD Pipeline"}'

Using API keys

Include the key in the Authorization header:

curl https://app.hooklistener.com/api/v1/endpoints \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hklst_your_api_key"

API keys also work with the MCP server, but OAuth 2.0 is now the recommended authentication method for MCP. See MCP Authentication for details.

# Legacy — OAuth 2.0 is recommended instead
claude mcp add --transport http hooklistener https://app.hooklistener.com/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer hklst_your_api_key"

Key properties

Property	Description
ID	Unique identifier for the key
Name	Human-readable label
Created at	When the key was created
Last used at	When the key was last used for authentication
Revoked at	When the key was revoked (null if active)

Revoking API keys

Revoked keys immediately stop working.

Dashboard

Go to Organization Settings > API Keys and click Revoke on the key.

API

curl -X DELETE https://app.hooklistener.com/api/v1/organizations/<org-id>/api-keys/<key-id> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hklst_your_api_key"

Best practices

• Use descriptive names — "GitHub Actions CI" is better than "key1"
• One key per use case — create separate keys for CI, development, and production
• Rotate periodically — create a new key, update your configuration, then revoke the old one
• Never commit keys — use environment variables or secret managers
• Revoke unused keys — remove keys that are no longer needed