Getting started

Authentication

All requests to the Kognita public API must carry two headers: an API key and an organization ID. Neither is optional.

Required headers

Header	Value	Where to find it
`x-kognita-api-key`	Your secret API key	Dashboard → API Keys → Create key
`x-kognita-organization-id`	Your organization ID	Dashboard → Settings → Organization ID

API key format

kgn_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

All keys are prefixed with kgn_ followed by a random URL-safe string. Keys are shown only once at creation time; store them securely.

Keep your API key secret

• Never expose it in client-side JavaScript or public repositories.
• Store it in environment variables or a secrets manager.
• If a key is compromised, rotate it immediately from the dashboard.

Setting credentials as environment variables

Store credentials outside your code. The convention used throughout these docs:

.env

KOGNITA_API_KEY=kgn_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
KOGNITA_ORG_ID=org_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Setting up a reusable client

Rather than repeating headers on every call, create a thin wrapper around your HTTP client.

bash

curl https://api.kognita.ai/api/v1/knowledge-bases \
  -H "x-kognita-api-key: kgn_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "x-kognita-organization-id: org_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Authentication errors

Missing or invalid credentials return a 400 or 401:

401 Unauthorized

{
  "errorCode": "UNAUTHORIZED",
  "errorMessage": "Invalid or missing API key"
}

400 Bad Request

{
  "errorCode": "MISSING_ORG_ID",
  "errorMessage": "x-kognita-organization-id header is required"
}

Next steps

→ Quick start → API reference