Authentication

The Tella API uses Bearer token authentication. Every request must include your API key in the Authorization header.

Getting your API key

Sign in to Tella
Navigate to Settings > API Keys
Click Create key
Copy and securely store your key

API keys are shown only once when created. If you lose your key, you’ll need to generate a new one.

Using your API key

Include your API key in the Authorization header of every request:

Authorization: Bearer tella_pk_xxxxx...

Example request

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer tella_pk_your_api_key" \
  https://api.tella.com/v1/videos

API key format

Tella API keys follow this format:

tella_pk_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Prefix: tella_pk_ (identifies it as a Tella public API key)
Suffix: 32 random alphanumeric characters

Security best practices

Never expose your API key

Don’t commit API keys to version control
Don’t include them in client-side code
Use environment variables to store keys

Use environment variables

# Set the environment variable
export TELLA_API_KEY="tella_pk_your_api_key"

# Use it in your code
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TELLA_API_KEY" \
  https://api.tella.com/v1/videos

Rotate keys regularly

Generate new API keys periodically and revoke old ones. This limits the impact if a key is compromised.

Use separate keys for different environments

Create separate API keys for development, staging, and production environments.

Error responses

401 Unauthorized

Returned when the API key is missing or invalid:

{
  "error": "unauthorized",
  "description": "Invalid API key"
}

Common causes:

Missing Authorization header
Incorrect API key format
Revoked or expired API key

403 Forbidden

Returned when the API key doesn’t have permission for the requested resource:

{
  "error": "forbidden",
  "description": "Access denied to this resource"
}

Revoking API keys

To revoke an API key:

Go to Settings > API Keys
Find the key you want to revoke
Click Revoke

Revoked keys immediately stop working for all requests.

Quickstart Rate limiting

Getting Started

Guides

API Reference

Webhooks

Authentication

Authentication

Getting your API key

Using your API key

Example request

API key format

Security best practices

Error responses

401 Unauthorized

403 Forbidden

Revoking API keys

​Authentication

​Getting your API key

​Using your API key

​Example request

​API key format

​Security best practices

​Error responses

​401 Unauthorized

​403 Forbidden

​Revoking API keys

Authentication

Getting your API key

Using your API key

Example request

API key format

Security best practices

Error responses

401 Unauthorized

403 Forbidden

Revoking API keys