> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://api-docs-v3.openfx.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Authentication

> Generate ES256-signed JWT bearer tokens to authenticate v1 API requests.

<Warning>
  **v1 sunsets December 31, 2026.** Migrate to v2 — see the [migration guide](/v1/migration-v1-to-v2).
</Warning>

To access the v1 APIs, authentication via Bearer tokens is required. These tokens are generated by creating API keys through the dashboard. Once generated, signing the keys allows access to the APIs with the assigned scopes.

## Generating a JWT bearer token

Once an API key is created, a JWT bearer token can be generated by signing the key. The token is then used to authenticate requests to the APIs.

To generate a JWT bearer token, sign an API key using the `ES256` algorithm, along with the `name` and `privateKey` from the downloaded API Key JSON file. The following snippets show how to create a JWT bearer token in various languages.

<CodeGroup>
  ```javascript createAuthToken.js theme={null}
  const { sign } = require("jsonwebtoken");
  const crypto = require("crypto");

  export const createAuthToken = () => {
    const keyName = "org/{org-id}/apiKey/{api-key-id}"; // Replace with `name`
    const keySecret = "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----XXXXXXXXXXXX-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"; // Replace with the `privateKey`.
    const serviceName = "developer-api";

    const now = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000)

    const payload = {
      aud: [serviceName],
      iss: "openfx",
      sub: keyName,
      iat: now,
      nbf: now,
      exp: now + 120, // Max 2 minutes allowed
    };

    const options = {
      header: {
        alg: "ES256",
        typ: "JWT",
        kid: keyName,
        nonce: crypto.randomBytes(16).toString("hex"),
      },
    };

    const token = sign(payload, keySecret, options);

    return token;
  };
  ```

  ```ts createAuthToken.ts theme={null}
  import { sign, type JwtHeader } from "jsonwebtoken";
  import crypto from "node:crypto";

  export const createAuthToken = (): string => {
    const keyName = "org/{org-id}/apiKey/{api-key-id}"; // Replace with `name`
    const keySecret = "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----XXXXXXXXXXXX-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"; // Replace with the `privateKey`.
    const serviceName = "developer-api";

    const now = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);

    const payload = {
      aud: [serviceName],
      iss: "openfx",
      sub: keyName,
      iat: now,
      nbf: now,
      exp: now + 120, // Max 2 minutes allowed
    };

    const options = {
      header: {
        alg: "ES256",
        typ: "JWT",
        kid: keyName,
        nonce: crypto.randomBytes(16).toString("hex"),
      } as JwtHeader,
    };

    const token = sign(payload, keySecret, options);

    return token;
  };
  ```

  ```python create_auth_token.py theme={null}
  import time
  import secrets
  import jwt


  def create_auth_token() -> str:
      key_name = "org/{org-id}/apiKey/{api-key-id}"  # Replace with `name`
      key_secret = "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----XXXXXXXXXXXX-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"  # Replace with the `privateKey`.

      service_name = "developer-api"
      now = int(time.time())

      payload = {
          "aud": [service_name],
          "iss": "openfx",
          "sub": key_name,
          "iat": now,
          "nbf": now,
          "exp": now + 120,  # 2-minute TTL
      }

      headers = {
          "kid": key_name,
          "typ": "JWT",
          "nonce": secrets.token_hex(16),
      }

      token = jwt.encode(payload, key_secret, algorithm="ES256", headers=headers)
      return token
  ```

  ```java AuthTokenUtil.java theme={null}
  import io.jsonwebtoken.Jwts;
  import io.jsonwebtoken.SignatureAlgorithm;
  import io.jsonwebtoken.security.Keys;
  import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
  import java.security.KeyFactory;
  import java.security.PrivateKey;
  import java.security.SecureRandom;
  import java.security.spec.PKCS8EncodedKeySpec;
  import java.time.Instant;
  import java.util.Arrays;
  import java.util.Base64;
  import java.util.Date;
  import java.util.HashMap;
  import java.util.Map;

  public class AuthTokenUtil {

      private static final String KEY_NAME = "org/{org-id}/apiKey/{api-key-id}"; // Replace with `name`
      private static final String KEY_SECRET = "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----XXXXXXXXXXXX-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"; // Replace with the actual `privateKey`
      private static final String SERVICE_NAME = "developer-api";

      public static String createAuthToken() {
          try {
              long now = Instant.now().getEpochSecond();

              // Generate random nonce
              SecureRandom random = new SecureRandom();
              byte[] nonceBytes = new byte[16];
              random.nextBytes(nonceBytes);
              String nonce = bytesToHex(nonceBytes);

              // Parse the private key
              PrivateKey privateKey = parsePrivateKey(KEY_SECRET);

              // Create JWT with custom header (exactly matching TypeScript structure)
              Map<String, Object> header = new HashMap<>();
              header.put("kid", KEY_NAME);
              header.put("nonce", nonce);
              header.put("typ", "JWT");
              // Note: alg is set via signWith() method, not in header map

              String token = Jwts.builder()
                      .setHeader(header)
                      .claim("aud", Arrays.asList(SERVICE_NAME))
                      .setIssuer("openfx")
                      .setSubject(KEY_NAME)
                      .setNotBefore(new Date(now * 1000))
                      .setExpiration(new Date((now + 120) * 1000)) // Max 2 minutes allowed
                      .setIssuedAt(new Date(now * 1000))
                      .signWith(privateKey, SignatureAlgorithm.ES256)
                      .compact();

              return token;

          } catch (Exception e) {
              throw new RuntimeException("Failed to create auth token", e);
          }
      }

      private static PrivateKey parsePrivateKey(String privateKeyPem) throws Exception {
          String privateKeyContent = privateKeyPem
                  .replace("-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----", "")
                  .replace("-----END PRIVATE KEY-----", "")
                  .replaceAll("\\s", "");

          byte[] keyBytes = Base64.getDecoder().decode(privateKeyContent);
          PKCS8EncodedKeySpec keySpec = new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec(keyBytes);
          KeyFactory keyFactory = KeyFactory.getInstance("EC");
          return keyFactory.generatePrivate(keySpec);
      }

      private static String bytesToHex(byte[] bytes) {
          StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
          for (byte b : bytes) {
              result.append(String.format("%02x", b));
          }
          return result.toString();
      }
  }
  ```

  ```go createAuthToken.go theme={null}
  package utils

  import (
  	"crypto/ecdsa"
  	"crypto/rand"
  	"crypto/x509"
  	"encoding/hex"
  	"encoding/pem"
  	"fmt"
  	"time"

  	"github.com/golang-jwt/jwt/v5"
  )

  // CreateAuthToken creates a JWT token with ES256 algorithm
  func CreateAuthToken() (string, error) {
  	keyName := "org/{org-id}/apiKey/{api-key-id}" // Replace with `name`
  	keySecret := "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----XXXXXXXXXXXX-----END PRIVATE KEY-----" // Replace with the `privateKey`
  	serviceName := "developer-api"

  	now := time.Now().Unix()

  	// Parse the private key
  	privateKey, err := parsePrivateKey(keySecret)
  	if err != nil {
  		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to parse private key: %w", err)
  	}

  	// Generate random nonce
  	nonceBytes := make([]byte, 16)
  	if _, err := rand.Read(nonceBytes); err != nil {
  		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to generate nonce: %w", err)
  	}
  	nonce := hex.EncodeToString(nonceBytes)

  	// Create claims
  	claims := jwt.MapClaims{
  		"aud": []string{serviceName},
  		"iss": "openfx",
  		"sub": keyName,
  		"iat": now,
  		"nbf": now,
  		"exp": now + 120, // 2 minutes
  	}

  	// Create token with custom header
  	token := jwt.NewWithClaims(jwt.SigningMethodES256, claims)
  	token.Header["kid"] = keyName
  	token.Header["nonce"] = nonce
  	token.Header["typ"] = "JWT"

  	// Sign the token
  	tokenString, err := token.SignedString(privateKey)
  	if err != nil {
  		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to sign token: %w", err)
  	}

  	return tokenString, nil
  }

  // parsePrivateKey parses a PEM-encoded ECDSA private key
  func parsePrivateKey(keyPEM string) (*ecdsa.PrivateKey, error) {
  	block, _ := pem.Decode([]byte(keyPEM))
  	if block == nil {
  		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse PEM block containing the key")
  	}

  	privateKey, err := x509.ParsePKCS8PrivateKey(block.Bytes)
  	if err != nil {
  		// Try parsing as EC private key if PKCS8 fails
  		privateKey, err = x509.ParseECPrivateKey(block.Bytes)
  		if err != nil {
  			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse private key: %w", err)
  		}
  	}

  	ecdsaKey, ok := privateKey.(*ecdsa.PrivateKey)
  	if !ok {
  		return nil, fmt.Errorf("not an ECDSA private key")
  	}

  	return ecdsaKey, nil
  }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Run the code to generate the JWT bearer token.

<Note>
  Retrieve the organization ID from the `orgId` parameter and the private key from the `privateKey` parameter in the JSON file downloaded during API key creation.
</Note>

## Using the JWT bearer token

Once the JWT bearer token is generated, include it in the `Authorization` header of each request. Example using cURL:

```bash theme={null}
curl -L "https://api.openfx.com/v1/<required-route>" -H "Authorization: Bearer {JWT_Bearer_Token}"
```

Replace `{JWT_Bearer_Token}` with the generated token.

<Warning>
  * **JWT bearer tokens** expire **2 minutes** after generation. A new token must be generated for continued API access.
  * Setting a longer expiry time using `exp` is not allowed.
  * A unique JWT must be generated for each API request; reuse of tokens is not permitted.
</Warning>

<Note>
  Need idempotent state-changing requests? The `Idempotency-Key` header is not supported on v1 — it is available on v2 and v3. See [/v2/authentication](/v2/authentication) and [/v3/idempotency](/v3/idempotency).
</Note>