API Keys Overview (original) (raw)

API Keys Overview

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An API key is a simple encrypted string that you can use when calling Google Cloud APIs. A typical use of an API key is to pass the key into a REST API call as a query parameter with the following format:

http://example-library.googleapis.com/v1/publishers/mypublisher/books?key=API_KEY

API keys are useful for accessing public data anonymously, and are used to associate API requests with the consumer Google Cloud project forquota and billing.

API Keys provides you a programmatic interface to create and manage API keys for your project. It provides you more control over API keys than the API key-related tasks that you can doin the Google Cloud console.

To learn more about authenticating to Google Cloud APIs and to determine the best authentication strategy for common scenarios, seeAuthentication overview. To learn more about using API keys for Google Maps Platform APIs and SDKs, see the Google Maps Platform documentation.

Securing an API key

When you use API keys in your applications, ensure that they are kept secure during both storage and transmission. Publicly exposing your credentials can result in your account being compromised, which could lead to unexpected charges on your account. To help keep your API keys secure, follow these best practices:

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