Using Your API Key

You need an API Key with Compute Node permissions to register and operate a Node on the Dispersed Network.

If you do not have an API Key yet, refer to API Key to create one.

Using Your API Key

For Node Operators

When running the dispersed client, pass your keys as command line arguments. The client handles all authentication internally — you don’t need to implement HMAC signatures yourself.

First time registration:

dispersed --pubkey=pk_your_public_key --secretkey=sk_your_secret_key --register

After registration:

dispersed --pubkey=pk_your_public_key --secretkey=sk_your_secret_key

For Programmatic API Access

If you’re building your own API client or scripts, requests require HMAC signature authentication with four headers:

• X-API-Key — Your public key
• X-Time — Current timestamp in milliseconds
• X-Nonce — Random 32-byte hex string
• X-Signature — HMAC-SHA256 signature

For implementation details and code examples, see Authenticate Requests.

What’s Next?

With your API Key ready, proceed to Register Your Node to connect your machine to the network.