---
title: Get started
description: Set up authentication for the Cloudflare API by creating API tokens, retrieving API keys, or configuring Origin CA keys.
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/core-services-preview.png
---

> Documentation Index  
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/llms.txt  
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

[Skip to content](#%5Ftop) 

# Get started

Using the Cloudflare API requires authentication so that Cloudflare knows who is making requests and what permissions you have. [Create an API token](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/create-token/) to grant access to the API to perform actions.

Note

You can also authenticate with [API keys](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/keys/), but these keys have [several limitations](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/keys/#limitations) that make them less secure than API tokens. Whenever possible, use API tokens to interact with the Cloudflare API.

* [ Create API token ](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/create-token/)
* [ Get Global API key (legacy) ](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/keys/)
* [ Get Origin CA keys ](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/ca-keys/)
* [ Token formats ](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/token-formats/)
* [ Account API tokens ](https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/api/get-started/account-owned-tokens/)

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