# Authentication

## Obtain the Keys

The Public and Secret keys can be copied from the merchant dashboard under the specific merchant account details as described [here](/getting-started/merchant-account-credentials.md). These keys should be sent as headers with the header names; **public-key** and **secret-key**

{% hint style="info" %}
Please ensure that your keys are stored safely and not shared with the public. In the event your keys are compromised, please contact us immediately for assistance. You an alternatively regenerate the secret key from within your merchant account dashboard
{% endhint %}

## Request Headers

For most of the API requests, only the public-key header is required. Scenarios that require the secret-key header will be described accordingly;

| Header Name   | Value                                                  | Required |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | -------- |
| Content-Type  | application/json                                       | YES      |
| x-api-version | 1                                                      | YES      |
| public-key    | The Public Key as obtained from the merchant dashboard | YES      |
| secret-key    | The Secret Key as obtained from the merchant dashboard | NO       |


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