login - Unkey Docs

Authenticate the CLI by storing your root key locally.

Use this before running other commands so you don't need to pass --root-key every time. The command prompts for your root key interactively (input is hidden) and saves it to ~/.unkey/config.toml with restricted file permissions.

You can create a root key from the Unkey dashboard.

Note

Your root key is stored in plaintext at ~/.unkey/config.toml. Make sure only your user account can read this file. The CLI creates it with 0600 permissions by default.

Usage#

unkey auth login

The command prompts you to enter your root key. Input is hidden for security:

Enter your root key: ••••••••••••Authentication successful. Key stored in /home/you/.unkey/config.toml

Once stored, all subsequent commands use this key automatically:

# No --root-key neededunkey api keys create-key --api-id=api_1234abcd --name="My Key"

Overriding the stored key#

You can override the stored key on a per-command basis using the --root-key flag or the UNKEY_ROOT_KEY environment variable:

# Flag takes highest priorityunkey api apis get-api --api-id=api_1234abcd --root-key=unkey_xxx# Environment variableexport UNKEY_ROOT_KEY=unkey_xxxunkey api apis get-api --api-id=api_1234abcd

The priority order is: --root-key flag > UNKEY_ROOT_KEY env var > ~/.unkey/config.toml.

Updating your key#

Run unkey auth login again to replace the stored key. The new key overwrites the previous one.