# Authentication Our API use API keys to authenticate requests. You can manage your API keys using the API. Our secret keys have the prefix `sk_`. Your API keys carry many privileges, so be sure to keep them secure! Do not share your secret API keys in publicly accessible areas such as GitHub, client-side code, and so forth. Authentication to the API is performed via [HTTP Basic Auth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_access_authentication). Provide your API key as the basic auth username value. You do not need to provide a password. All API requests must be made over [HTTPS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Secure). Calls made over plain HTTP will fail. API requests without authentication will also fail. ```sh curl https://api.debitdirect.io/me \ -u sk_ddMfjeC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc: \ --header "x-version: 4.0" ``` --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://devs.debitdirect.io/getting-started/authentication.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.