Authentication & API Keys

PrintKit is designed to be usable immediately with zero setup — no account, no API key, no sign-up required. You can integrate printing features into your app right now by following the Order Handoff API docs.

That said, registering your app unlocks additional capabilities: order tracking, a revenue split on completed orders, and more features as the platform grows. An API key is how we tie orders back to your app.

Tip

AI agents can register themselves and receive an API key programmatically — no browser required. See Agent Registration below.

Why Register?

The API is fully functional without an account. Registration adds:

Revenue split on orders — earn a percentage of completed print orders attributed to your app.
Order tracking — see which orders came from your app and their fulfillment status.
Higher rate limits — authenticated requests receive higher API limits as we scale.

The only thing we need from you right now is an email address. That’s it.

Create an account with your email. Once signed in, your dashboard at /dashboard/api-keys lets you view your API key. Copy it and store it somewhere safe.

Agent Self-Registration

AI agents, scripts, and CLI tools can register and receive an API key in a single HTTP request — no browser session, no email click-through, no human in the loop.

POSThttps://printkit.dev/api/register

Request body

Field	Type	Required	Description
`email`	string	Yes	Email address for the account. Used to deduplicate registrations.
`name`	string	No	Account name, e.g. `"MyPhotoApp Agent"`. Used as the display name for your account.
`source`	string	No	Registration source identifier, e.g. `"agent-self-registration"`. Reserved for future use.

Response

Field	Description
`api_key`	Your API key. You can also view it anytime from your dashboard.
`user_id`	The Clerk user ID associated with the email.
`docs`	Link back to this documentation.

Note

If you register with an email that already has an account, your existing API key is returned. You can also view it anytime from the dashboard.

Examples

curl -X POST https://printkit.dev/api/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "name": "MyPhotoApp Agent",
    "source": "agent-self-registration"
  }'

const res = await fetch('https://printkit.dev/api/register', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    email: '[email protected]',
    name: 'MyPhotoApp Agent',
    source: 'agent-self-registration',
  }),
});

const { api_key } = await res.json();
// Store api_key securely — you can also view it in your dashboard

import httpx

res = httpx.post(
    "https://printkit.dev/api/register",
    json={
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "name": "MyPhotoApp Agent",
        "source": "agent-self-registration",
    }
)

data = res.json()
api_key = data["api_key"]  # store this — also viewable in your dashboard

Response

json

{
  "api_key": "pk_live_a1b2c3d4e5f6...",
  "user_id": "user_abc",
  "docs": "https://printkit.dev/docs"
}

Using Your API Key

Include your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header on any PrintKit API request. The key is optional — requests without a key work as anonymous submissions. When a key is provided, it is validated and forwarded to our backend for attribution.

Authenticated request

curl -X POST https://printkit.dev/api/add-to-cart \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "sku": "metal-print-8x10",
    "source": "my-app",
    "projectData": {
      "photos": ["https://cdn.example.com/photo.jpg"]
    }
  }'

const res = await fetch('https://printkit.dev/api/add-to-cart', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,  // optional — enables attribution
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    sku: 'metal-print-8x10',
    source: 'my-app',
    projectData: {
      photos: ['https://cdn.example.com/photo.jpg'],
    },
  }),
});

import httpx

res = httpx.post(
    "https://printkit.dev/api/add-to-cart",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}",
    },
    json={
        "sku": "metal-print-8x10",
        "source": "my-app",
        "projectData": {
            "photos": ["https://cdn.example.com/photo.jpg"],
        },
    },
)

Note

If you include an API key that is invalid or malformed, the API will return a 401 error. Omitting the header entirely is fine — the request will proceed anonymously.

Including a valid key enables revenue split, order tracking, and other attribution features. We recommend always sending your key once you have one.

Managing Keys

Dashboard: Signed-in users can view their API key at /dashboard/api-keys.
No expiry: Keys are long-lived and do not expire.
One key per account: Each account receives a default API key automatically upon registration.