> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://developers.deepgram.com/reference/authentication/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://developers.deepgram.com/_mcp/server.

# Authentication

> **Info**
>
> If you need to create short lived tokens for `/Listen`, `/Speak`, or `/Read` API requests, you can use the [Token-based Auth API](/reference/auth/tokens/grant).

Send requests to the API with an `Authorization` header that references your project's API Key:

`Authorization: Token <YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY>`

You can [create a Deepgram API Key in the Deepgram Console](https://console.deepgram.com/signup?utm_source=api-ref). You must create your first API Key using the Console.

All API requests must be made over HTTPS. Calls made over plain HTTP will fail. API requests made without authentication will also fail.

|                            |               |
| :------------------------- | :------------ |
| **Security Scheme Type**   | API Key       |
| **Header parameter name:** | Authorization |

> Authenticating requests made to the Deepgram API