Authentication

SDK Authentication

All Silent Witness SDKs use API key authentication. You configure your API key once when initializing your SDK client, and the SDK handles all authentication automatically.

🔑

API Key Authentication

Configure your API key when creating your SDK client

🛡️

Automatic Header Management

SDKs automatically include authentication in all requests

Configuring Authentication

Configure your API key when initializing your SDK client:

Go

import "github.com/silentwitness/go-sdk"

// Option 1: Package-level configuration
silentwitness.Key = "sk-your-api-key-here"

// Option 2: Client instance configuration
client := silentwitness.NewClient(silentwitness.Config{
    APIKey: "sk-your-api-key-here",
})
defer client.Close()

TypeScript

import { setApiKey, SilentWitnessClient } from "@silentwitness/typescript-sdk";

// Option 1: Package-level configuration
setApiKey("sk-your-api-key-here");

// Option 2: Client instance configuration
const client = new SilentWitnessClient({
  apiKey: "sk-your-api-key-here",
});

info

API keys start with sk- and are 64 characters long. Keep your API key secure and never expose it in client-side code.

Environment Variables

For production applications, store your API key in environment variables:

Go

import (
    "os"
    "github.com/silentwitness/go-sdk"
)

client := silentwitness.NewClient(silentwitness.Config{
    APIKey: os.Getenv("SILENT_WITNESS_API_KEY"),
})

TypeScript

import { SilentWitnessClient } from "@silentwitness/typescript-sdk";

const client = new SilentWitnessClient({
  apiKey: process.env.SILENT_WITNESS_API_KEY,
});

Getting an API Key

Access Console Dashboard

Log into your Silent Witness Console dashboard

Generate API Key

Navigate to API keys section and create a new key

Secure Your Key

Store your API key securely in environment variables

Test Your Key

Upload a test file to verify your key works

API Key Management

Account Association

API keys are associated with your account and all usage is billed to your account:

• Cases created via API keys are associated with your account
• Invoices are generated automatically for case creation and usage
• All usage counts toward your subscription plan limits
• Case history shows both user-created and API key-created cases

Scopes

API keys can be restricted to specific scopes:

• read - Read-only access to SDK methods
• write - Full read/write access to all methods
• admin - Administrative operations

Rate Limits

Each API key has rate limiting applied:

• Default: 1000 requests per hour
• SDK Handling: SDKs automatically handle rate limit errors with retry logic
• Custom: Contact support for higher limits

Security Best Practices

warning

Keep your API key secure

• Never commit API keys to version control
• Use environment variables in production
• Rotate keys regularly
• Monitor key usage

Authentication Errors

If authentication fails, SDKs will return language-specific errors:

Go

response, err := client.Files.Upload(ctx, &silentwitness.UploadFileRequest{
    Content:  []byte("test"),
    Filename: silentwitness.String("test.txt"),
})
if err != nil {
    // Check for authentication error
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "UNAUTHENTICATED") {
        log.Fatal("Invalid API key")
    }
}

TypeScript

try {
    const response = await client.files.upload({
        content: new Uint8Array([116, 101, 115, 116]), // "test"
        filename: "test.txt"
    });
} catch (error) {
    if (error.code === 'UNAUTHENTICATED') {
        console.error('Invalid API key');
    }
}

Testing Authentication

Use the file upload method to test your authentication:

Go

package main

import (
    "context"
    "log"
    "github.com/silentwitness/go-sdk"
)

func main() {
    client := silentwitness.NewClient(silentwitness.Config{
        APIKey: "sk-your-api-key-here",
    })
    defer client.Close()

    fileBytes := []byte("test file content")
    response, err := client.Files.Upload(context.Background(),
        &silentwitness.UploadFileRequest{
            Content:  fileBytes,
            Filename: silentwitness.String("test.txt"),
            Purpose:  silentwitness.String("crash_analysis"),
        })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Authentication failed: %v", err)
    }

    log.Printf("Success: File uploaded with ID %s", response.FileId)
}

TypeScript

import { SilentWitnessClient } from "@silentwitness/typescript-sdk";

const client = new SilentWitnessClient({
  apiKey: "sk-your-api-key-here",
});

async function testAuth() {
  try {
    const response = await client.files.upload({
        content: new Uint8Array([116, 101, 115, 116]), // "test"
        filename: "test.txt"
    });
    console.log("Success:", response.message);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Authentication failed:", error);
  }
}

testAuth();