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

# Authentication

> Configure API key authentication for BeeCrawl.

Authentication is optional when the API is not configured with an API key.
When a key is configured, send it using one of these methods:

* `X-Web-Extract-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY`
* `X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY`
* `Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY`

Configure the API service with either environment variable:

```bash theme={null}
BEECRAWL_WEB_EXTRACT_API_KEY=replace-me
# or
WEB_EXTRACT_API_KEY=replace-me
```

Example:

```bash theme={null}
curl https://api.beecrawl.dev/scrape \
  -H 'X-Web-Extract-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com","formats":["markdown"]}'
```

The `/health` endpoint is public and returns `{ "ok": true }`.