> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.getunleash.io/api/create-api-token/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.getunleash.io/_mcp/server.

# Create API token

POST https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens
Content-Type: application/json

Create an API token of a specific type: one of client, admin, frontend, backend.

Reference: https://docs.getunleash.io/api/create-api-token

## Authentication

- `Authorization` header (required) — API key needed to access this API
- `Authorization` header (bearer token, required) — API key needed to access this API, in Bearer token format

## Request

### Body (application/json)

This endpoint expects a createApiTokenSchema.

- `createApiTokenSchema`

## Response

### 201

The resource was successfully created.

- `tokenName` (string, required) — A unique name for this particular token
- `type` (enum, required) — The type of API token
  - Allowed values: `client`, `admin`, `frontend`, `backend`
- `projects` (list of string, required) — The list of projects this token has access to. If the token has access to specific projects they will be listed here. If the token has access to all projects it will be represented as `[*]`
- `createdAt` (string, required) — When the token was created.
- `secret` (string, optional, nullable) — The token used for authentication.
- `environment` (string, optional, default: development) — The environment the token has access to.
- `project` (string, optional) — The project this token belongs to.
- `expiresAt` (string, optional, nullable) — The token's expiration date. NULL if the token doesn't have an expiration set.
- `seenAt` (string, optional, nullable) — When the token was last seen/used to authenticate with. NULL if the token has not yet been used for authentication.
- `alias` (string, optional, nullable) — Alias is no longer in active use and will often be NULL. It's kept around as a way of allowing old proxy tokens created with the old metadata format to keep working.
- `secure` (boolean, optional, nullable) — True if using the new api token format. This means copy token will no longer work

## Errors

### 401 Unauthorized Error

Authorization information is missing or invalid. Provide a valid API token as the `authorization` header, e.g. `authorization:*.*.my-admin-token`.

- `id` (string, optional) — The ID of the error instance
- `name` (string, optional) — The name of the error kind
- `message` (string, optional) — A description of what went wrong.

### 403 Forbidden Error

The provided user credentials are valid, but the user does not have the necessary permissions to perform this operation

- `id` (string, optional) — The ID of the error instance
- `name` (string, optional) — The name of the error kind
- `message` (string, optional) — A description of what went wrong.

### 415 Unsupported Media Type Error

The operation does not support request payloads of the provided type. Please ensure that you're using one of the listed payload types and that you have specified the right content type in the "content-type" header.

- `id` (string, optional) — The ID of the error instance
- `name` (string, optional) — The name of the error kind
- `message` (string, optional) — A description of what went wrong.

## Types

### CreateApiTokenSchema0

- `type` (string, required) — A client or frontend token. Must be one of the strings "client" (deprecated), "backend" (preferred over "client") or "frontend" (not case sensitive).
- `tokenName` (string, required) — The name of the token.
- `expiresAt` (string, optional) — The time when this token should expire.
- `environment` (string, optional) — The environment that the token should be valid for. Defaults to "default"
- `project` (string, optional) — The project that the token should be valid for. Defaults to "*" meaning every project. This property is mutually incompatible with the `projects` property. If you specify one, you cannot specify the other.
- `projects` (list of string, optional) — A list of projects that the token should be valid for. This property is mutually incompatible with the `project` property. If you specify one, you cannot specify the other.

## Examples

**Request**

```json
{
  "tokenName": "token-64522",
  "type": "frontend"
}
```

**Response**

```json
{
  "tokenName": "some-user",
  "type": "client",
  "projects": [
    "developerexperience",
    "enterprisegrowth"
  ],
  "createdAt": "2023-04-19T08:15:14.000Z",
  "secret": "project:environment.xyzrandomstring",
  "environment": "development",
  "project": "developerexperience",
  "expiresAt": "2023-04-19T08:15:14.000Z",
  "seenAt": "2023-04-19T08:15:14.000Z",
  "alias": "randomid-or-some-alias",
  "secure": true
}
```

**SDK Code**

```python
import requests

url = "https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens"

payload = {
    "tokenName": "token-64522",
    "type": "frontend"
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "<apiKey>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.json())
```

```javascript
const url = 'https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens';
const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: '<apiKey>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: '{"tokenName":"token-64522","type":"frontend"}'
};

try {
  const response = await fetch(url, options);
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}
```

```go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"tokenName\": \"token-64522\",\n  \"type\": \"frontend\"\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "<apiKey>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
```

```ruby
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = '<apiKey>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"tokenName\": \"token-64522\",\n  \"type\": \"frontend\"\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
```

```java
import com.mashape.unirest.http.HttpResponse;
import com.mashape.unirest.http.Unirest;

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens")
  .header("Authorization", "<apiKey>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"tokenName\": \"token-64522\",\n  \"type\": \"frontend\"\n}")
  .asString();
```

```php
<?php
require_once('vendor/autoload.php');

$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();

$response = $client->request('POST', 'https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens', [
  'body' => '{
  "tokenName": "token-64522",
  "type": "frontend"
}',
  'headers' => [
    'Authorization' => '<apiKey>',
    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
  ],
]);

echo $response->getBody();
```

```csharp
using RestSharp;

var client = new RestClient("https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
request.AddHeader("Authorization", "<apiKey>");
request.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
request.AddParameter("application/json", "{\n  \"tokenName\": \"token-64522\",\n  \"type\": \"frontend\"\n}", ParameterType.RequestBody);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
```

```swift
import Foundation

let headers = [
  "Authorization": "<apiKey>",
  "Content-Type": "application/json"
]
let parameters = [
  "tokenName": "token-64522",
  "type": "frontend"
] as [String : Any]

let postData = JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: parameters, options: [])

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://app.unleash-instance.example.com/api/admin/api-tokens")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers
request.httpBody = postData as Data

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error as Any)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
```