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Create and manage API keys

An API key lets your app’s backend create and read tickets in Essential Support over HTTPS. Keys act for your whole workspace, are created and revoked by the account owner under Settings → Integrations → API keys, and each key is shown only once — so copy it the moment it appears.

Create a key

  1. Sign in to your workspace as the account owner (only owners see this section). Open Settings from the gear icon in the top bar, then go to Settings → Integrations → API keys.
  2. In the Label field, type a name that tells your keys apart later — for example Production or Billing service. If you leave it blank, the key is labelled API key.
  3. Click Create key. The key appears once in a highlighted box reading Copy this key now — it won’t be shown again. Copy it straight into your backend’s secret store (an environment variable or secrets manager).
  4. The key looks like es_live_…. Afterwards only its last four characters are stored and displayed, so it can never be retrieved again. If you lose it, revoke it and create a new one.

What a key authorizes

Send the key as a Bearer token on every request: Authorization: Bearer es_live_…. The base URL is your own portal host, https://{slug}.essential.support (or your custom domain). With a valid key you can:

A key acts for the workspace, not for a single customer, so keep it server-side only — never ship it in client-side JavaScript, a mobile bundle, or a public repo. API keys never sign SSO tokens (that uses a separate signing secret — see the Contact Support link guide). Each key is rate-limited to 120 requests per minute; exceeding it returns 429.

Revoke a key

  1. Return to Settings → Integrations → API keys and find the key by its label and last-four digits.
  2. Click Revoke. The key stops working immediately and shows a revoked chip. This cannot be undone.
  3. To rotate without downtime, create the new key first, deploy your backend with it, then revoke the old one.