Every request to Appelon must include an API key. Keys are scoped to your account and can be revoked at any time.

Authentication

API keys

Your API key authenticates all requests. Include it in the Authorization header as a Bearer token.

Authorization: Bearer sk-your-api-key

Keep your key secret. Never commit API keys to version control or expose them in client-side code. Use environment variables instead.

Appelon’s API is OpenAI-compatible. Use the official OpenAI SDK with a custom base URL.

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="sk-your-api-key",
    base_url="https://router.appelon.ai/v1"
)

import OpenAI from 'openai';

const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: 'sk-your-api-key',
  baseURL: 'https://router.appelon.ai/v1',
});

Store your key in an environment variable for security.

# Add to .bashrc, .zshrc, or .env
export APPELON_API_KEY="sk-your-api-key"

With the environment variable set, initialize the client without hardcoding the key:

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.environ["APPELON_API_KEY"],
    base_url="https://router.appelon.ai/v1"
)

If authentication fails, you’ll receive one of these responses:

Code	Description
`401`	Missing, invalid, or revoked API key. Check the `Authorization` header.