---
title: Authenticate against R2 API using auth tokens
description: Authenticate against the R2 S3-compatible API using API tokens with Python or JavaScript.
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/dev-products-preview.png
---

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# Authenticate against R2 API using auth tokens

**Last reviewed:**  over 1 year ago 

The following example shows how to authenticate against R2 using the S3 API and an API token.

Note

For providing secure access to bucket objects for anonymous users, we recommend using [pre-signed URLs](https://developers.cloudflare.com/r2/api/s3/presigned-urls/) instead.

Pre-signed URLs do not require users to be a member of your organization and enable direct programmatic access to R2.

Ensure you have set the following environment variables prior to running either example. Refer to [Authentication](https://developers.cloudflare.com/r2/api/tokens/) for more information.

Terminal window

```

export AWS_REGION=auto

export AWS_ENDPOINT_URL=https://<account_id>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_access_key_id

export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_secret_access_key


```

* [  JavaScript ](#tab-panel-7432)
* [  Python ](#tab-panel-7433)
* [  Go ](#tab-panel-7434)

Install the `@aws-sdk/client-s3` package for the S3 API:

 npm  yarn  pnpm  bun 

```
npm i @aws-sdk/client-s3
```

```
yarn add @aws-sdk/client-s3
```

```
pnpm add @aws-sdk/client-s3
```

```
bun add @aws-sdk/client-s3
```

Run the following Node.js script with `node index.js`. Ensure you change `Bucket` to the name of your bucket, and `Key` to point to an existing file in your R2 bucket.

Note, tutorial below should function for TypeScript as well.

index.js

```

import { GetObjectCommand, S3Client } from "@aws-sdk/client-s3";


const s3 = new S3Client();


const Bucket = "<YOUR_BUCKET_NAME>";

const Key = "pfp.jpg";


const object = await s3.send(

  new GetObjectCommand({

    Bucket,

    Key,

  }),

);


console.log("Successfully fetched the object", object.$metadata);


// Process the data as needed

// For example, to get the content as a Buffer:

// const content = data.Body;


// Or to save the file (requires 'fs' module):

// import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";

// await writeFile('ingested_0001.parquet', data.Body);


```

Install the `boto3` S3 API client:

Terminal window

```

pip install boto3


```

Run the following Python script with `python3 get_r2_object.py`. Ensure you change `bucket` to the name of your bucket, and `object_key` to point to an existing file in your R2 bucket.

get\_r2\_object.py

```

import boto3

from botocore.client import Config


# Configure the S3 client for Cloudflare R2

s3_client = boto3.client('s3',

  config=Config(signature_version='s3v4')

)


# Specify the object key

#

bucket = '<YOUR_BUCKET_NAME>'

object_key = '2024/08/02/ingested_0001.parquet'


try:

  # Fetch the object

  response = s3_client.get_object(Bucket=bucket, Key=object_key)


  print('Successfully fetched the object')


  # Process the response content as needed

  # For example, to read the content:

  # object_content = response['Body'].read()


  # Or to save the file:

  # with open('ingested_0001.parquet', 'wb') as f:

  #     f.write(response['Body'].read())


except Exception as e:

  print(f'Failed to fetch the object. Error: {str(e)}')


```

Use `go get` to add the `aws-sdk-go-v2` packages to your Go project:

Terminal window

```

go get github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2

go get github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/config

go get github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/credentials

go get github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/service/s3


```

Run the following Go application as a script with `go run main.go`. Ensure you change `bucket` to the name of your bucket, and `objectKey` to point to an existing file in your R2 bucket.

```

package main


import (

  "context"

  "fmt"

  "io"

  "log"

  "github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/aws"

  "github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/config"

  "github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2/service/s3"

)


func main() {

    cfg, err := config.LoadDefaultConfig(context.TODO())

    if err != nil {

      log.Fatalf("Unable to load SDK config, %v", err)

    }


    // Create an S3 client

    client := s3.NewFromConfig(cfg)


    // Specify the object key

    bucket := "<YOUR_BUCKET_NAME>"

    objectKey := "pfp.jpg"


    // Fetch the object

    output, err := client.GetObject(context.TODO(), &s3.GetObjectInput{

      Bucket: aws.String(bucket),

      Key:    aws.String(objectKey),

    })

    if err != nil {

      log.Fatalf("Unable to fetch object, %v", err)

    }

    defer output.Body.Close()


    fmt.Println("Successfully fetched the object")


    // Process the object content as needed

    // For example, to save the file:

    // file, err := os.Create("ingested_0001.parquet")

    // if err != nil {

    //   log.Fatalf("Unable to create file, %v", err)

    // }

    // defer file.Close()

    // _, err = io.Copy(file, output.Body)

    // if err != nil {

    //   log.Fatalf("Unable to write file, %v", err)

    // }


    // Or to read the content:

    content, err := io.ReadAll(output.Body)

    if err != nil {

      log.Fatalf("Unable to read object content, %v", err)

    }

    fmt.Printf("Object content length: %d bytes\n", len(content))

}


```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/directory/","name":"Directory"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/r2/","name":"R2"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"/r2/examples/","name":"Examples"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@id":"/r2/examples/authenticate-r2-auth-tokens/","name":"Authenticate against R2 API using auth tokens"}}]}
```