Authentication

The Bento API uses Basic authentication with your publishable key and secret key. Every request also requires your site UUID as a query parameter.

Getting Your Keys

You'll need three credentials to authenticate:

Credential	Where to find it	Purpose
Publishable Key	Settings → API Keys	Username for Basic auth
Secret Key	Settings → API Keys	Password for Basic auth
Site UUID	Settings → API Keys	Identifies which site to use

Each site in your Bento account has its own set of API keys. Make sure you're using the correct keys for the site you want to work with.

To get your keys:

Log in to Bento
Go to Settings → API Keys
Copy your Publishable Key, Secret Key, and Site UUID

Basic Authentication

Bento uses HTTP Basic Authentication. Your credentials are sent as a Base64-encoded string in the Authorization header.

Encoding Your Credentials

Combine your publishable key and secret key with a colon, then Base64 encode:

echo -n "your_publishable_key:your_secret_key" | base64
# Output: eW91cl9wdWJsaXNoYWJsZV9rZXk6eW91cl9zZWNyZXRfa2V5

Using the Authorization Header

Authorization: Basic eW91cl9wdWJsaXNoYWJsZV9rZXk6eW91cl9zZWNyZXRfa2V5

Shortcut: URL-Based Auth

Most HTTP clients support embedding credentials in the URL:

https://PUBLISHABLE_KEY:SECRET_KEY@app.bentonow.com/api/v1/...

This is convenient for testing but avoid using it in client-side code where the URL might be logged or exposed.

Site UUID

Every API request must include your site_uuid as a query parameter. This tells Bento which site's data to access.

https://app.bentonow.com/api/v1/fetch/tags?site_uuid=YOUR_SITE_UUID

Forgetting the site_uuid is a common mistake. You'll get a 401 Unauthorized error if it's missing.

Making Requests

Required Headers

Every request needs these headers:

Header	Value	Required
`Authorization`	`Basic {base64_credentials}`	Yes
`User-Agent`	Your app name (e.g., `MyApp/1.0`)	Yes
`Content-Type`	`application/json`	For POST/PUT

The User-Agent header is required. Requests without it are blocked by Cloudflare and will fail silently or return HTML instead of JSON.

Complete Example

curl -X GET 'https://app.bentonow.com/api/v1/fetch/tags?site_uuid=YOUR_SITE_UUID' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YOUR_BASE64_CREDENTIALS' \
  -H 'User-Agent: MyApp/1.0' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json'

Language Examples

const credentials = Buffer.from(`${publishableKey}:${secretKey}`).toString('base64')

const response = await fetch(`https://app.bentonow.com/api/v1/fetch/tags?site_uuid=${siteUuid}`, {
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Basic ${credentials}`,
    'User-Agent': 'MyApp/1.0',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
})

Tip: Use our official SDKs instead of making raw HTTP requests. They handle authentication automatically. See all available SDKs.

Security Best Practices

Do

Store API keys in environment variables
Use server-side code for API calls
Rotate keys if they're ever exposed
Use different keys for development and production

Don't

Commit API keys to version control
Expose keys in client-side JavaScript
Share keys in plain text (emails, Slack, etc.)
Use the same keys across multiple applications

Environment Variables Example

.env

BENTO_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=your_publishable_key
BENTO_SECRET_KEY=your_secret_key
BENTO_SITE_UUID=your_site_uuid

Node.js

const publishableKey = process.env.BENTO_PUBLISHABLE_KEY
const secretKey = process.env.BENTO_SECRET_KEY
const siteUuid = process.env.BENTO_SITE_UUID

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
`401 Unauthorized`	Invalid credentials or missing site_uuid	Double-check your keys and ensure site_uuid is in the query string
`403 Forbidden`	IP blocked or account issue	Contact support@bentonow.com
HTML response instead of JSON	Missing User-Agent header	Add `User-Agent: YourApp/1.0` to your request headers
`BLOCKED` response	Cloudflare protection triggered	Ensure User-Agent header is present and looks legitimate
`429 Too Many Requests`	Rate limit exceeded	Slow down requests, see rate limits

Debugging Tips

Test with cURL first - If cURL works but your code doesn't, the issue is in your code
Check the response body - Error messages often explain what went wrong
Verify Base64 encoding - A common mistake is encoding with line breaks or padding issues
Confirm site_uuid - Each site has a unique UUID; using the wrong one will fail

Next Steps

API Quickstart - Make your first API call
Events API - Track user behavior
Subscribers API - Manage your contacts
SDKs - Use our official libraries