---
description: Service Key authentication for the Cloudflare API is deprecated and will be removed on September 30, 2026. Migrate to API Tokens.
title: Service Key authentication deprecated
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-03-19-service-key-authentication-deprecated/og.png?v=9a0a07dcc0b03d26
---

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March 19, 2026

## Service Key authentication deprecated

[Cloudflare Fundamentals](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/)

Copy as Markdown| [View as Markdown](https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-03-19-service-key-authentication-deprecated/index.md)| [Agent setup](https://developers.cloudflare.com/agent-setup/)

Service Key authentication for the Cloudflare API is deprecated. Service Keys will stop working on September 30, 2026.

[API Tokens](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/create-token/) replace Service Keys with fine-grained permissions, expiration, and revocation.

#### What you need to do

Replace any use of the `X-Auth-User-Service-Key` header with an [API Token](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/create-token/) scoped to the permissions your integration requires.

If you use `cloudflared`, update to a version from November 2022 or later. These versions already use API Tokens.

If you use [origin-ca-issuer ↗︎](https://github.com/cloudflare/origin-ca-issuer), update to a version that supports API Token authentication.

For more information, refer to [API deprecations](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/reference/deprecations/).

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