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

# Authentication

> Authenticate every request with a bearer token.

The Humalike API authenticates every request with a **bearer token**. There are
no unauthenticated API endpoints.

## Send your token

Include the token in the `Authorization` header on every request:

```
Authorization: Bearer <token>
```

```bash theme={null}
curl https://api.humalike.com/v1/social-learning/actions/extract \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HUMALIKE_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"transcript": {"messages": [{"id": "m1", "speaker": "ada", "text": "hi"}]}}'
```

## Get a token

Your token is issued to your account and represents your session. Obtain it from
the Humalike dashboard and supply it with each request from your application.

<Warning>
  Treat your token like a password. Keep it server-side, never embed it in
  client-side code or commit it to source control, and rotate it if it leaks.
</Warning>

## Failed authentication

A request with a missing, malformed, or expired token is rejected with `401`
and the standard [error envelope](/api-reference/errors):

```json theme={null}
{
  "error": {
    "code": "UNAUTHORIZED",
    "message": "Authentication failed."
  }
}
```

To resolve a `401`, confirm the `Authorization` header is present, correctly
formatted as `Bearer <token>`, and that the token has not expired.

## Credits

A valid token gets you authenticated; billable calls also need a credit
balance. Your first billable call provisions the account and grants its initial
allowance automatically. Each billable request is priced and checked against
your balance before it runs: a request your balance can't cover is rejected
with `402 Payment Required` and is not charged.

See [Credits and billing](/credits-and-billing) for how billing works and how to
handle a `402`, and [Read your usage](/api-reference/usage-summary) for pulling
your own billing data.