Peopledatalabs Authentication

generated: '2026-08-14'
method: searched
source: https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/authentication
derived_from:
- openapi/_original/peopledatalabs-openapi.yml
- openapi/_original/peopledatalabs-docs-openapi.json
docs: https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/authentication
summary:
  types:
  - apiKey
  api_key_in:
  - header
  - query
  oauth2_flows: []
  scopes: none
  note: >-
    One credential, three placements. Every People Data Labs endpoint — including the
    sandbox host and the subscription/webhook management surface — is authenticated by a
    single account API key. There are no scopes, no OAuth, no per-endpoint permissions and
    no token exchange, so an agent handed a PDL key holds the full account: every dataset
    the plan includes, every credit on the account, and the ability to create, change and
    delete webhook subscriptions.
schemes:
- name: APIKeyHeader
  type: apiKey
  in: header
  parameterName: X-Api-Key
  recommended: true
  description: >-
    The documented and recommended placement. The published OpenAPI declares the header as
    X-API-Key; the documentation and every SDK example use X-Api-Key. HTTP header names are
    case-insensitive, so both work.
  sources:
  - openapi/_original/peopledatalabs-openapi.yml
  - openapi/_original/peopledatalabs-docs-openapi.json
  - https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/authentication
- name: APIKeyQuery
  type: apiKey
  in: query
  parameterName: api_key
  recommended: false
  description: >-
    Documented alternative — the key may be passed in the query string
    (?api_key=...). Not declared in either OpenAPI document. It works, and it puts a
    long-lived credential in URLs, logs and referrers; prefer the header.
  sources:
  - https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/docs/authentication
key_management:
  issuance: https://dashboard.peopledatalabs.com
  rotation: >-
    Self-serve rotation is not documented. To request a new key or delete an existing one
    the docs direct customers to their account manager or support@peopledatalabs.com.
  expiry: not documented
  scopes: none
  environments:
    note: >-
      The same key authenticates both the production host and
      sandbox.api.peopledatalabs.com. There is no separate test key and no key prefix that
      distinguishes test from live.
transport:
  https_required: true
  note: Requests over plain HTTP fail.
failure_modes:
- status: 401
  type: authentication_error
  cause: missing or invalid key
sdk_support:
- language: python
  snippet: 'PDLPY(api_key="YOUR API KEY")'
- language: javascript
  snippet: 'new PDLJS({ apiKey: "YOUR API KEY" })'
- language: ruby
  snippet: 'Peopledatalabs.api_key = "YOUR API KEY"'
- language: go
  snippet: 'pdl.New(apiKey)'