# Get your API Client

Create an API Client for your Project

You must first set up an API Client before your applications can interact with your Project. An API Client includes authentication information and permission scopes to determine the endpoints the API Client can interact with.

Learn more about OAuth 2.0 for API authentication in our self-paced [Authorization flows and API Clients](/learning-developer-essentials/authentication-authorization/overview.md) module.

## Objectives of this guide

By the end of this guide you will have:

- [Created an API Client](/api/getting-started/create-api-client.md#create-an-api-client)
- [Saved your API Client information](/api/getting-started/create-api-client.md#save-the-api-client-information)

## Create an API Client

1. In the Merchant Center, click **Settings > Developer settings**.

2. On the **API clients** tab, click **Create new API client**. On the **New API client** page, follow these steps:

3. Enter a name for your API client. The name does not affect how the API functions.

4. Select the [scopes](/api/scopes.md) for your API Client. To provide the API Client with complete access, click the drop-down and select **Admin client**. To follow security best practices, we recommend to keep the scopes to the minimum that is needed.

   ![The API Client scopes](https://docs.commercetools.com/api/images/api-client/api_client_scopes.png)

5. Click **Create API client**. On saving, your API Client information is displayed in the **Client credential flow** section.

   The API Client information is only displayed once. Ensure to save the project\_key, client\_id, secret, scope, API URL, and Auth URL before leaving or closing this page.

   ![The client credential flow containing API Client settings](https://docs.commercetools.com/api/images/api-client/client_credential_flow.png)

6. Optional: At this stage, you can request an access token that you need to make API calls to your Project with a **cURL** command. If you have [cURL](https://curl.haxx.se/) installed on your machine, you can copy the command to your clipboard and **run it in your terminal**. The access token is valid for 48 hours.

   ![Screenshot API Client Credentials cURL Command](https://docs.commercetools.com/api/images/api-client/api_client_credentials_curl.png)

   If you do not request a token at this stage, you can obtain it later with your saved API Client information by following the steps in [Make your first API call](/api/getting-started/make-first-api-call.md#get-your-access-token).
   Please also **save your API Client information to** avoid losing it.

7. Save your API Client information as explained in the next section for use in your applications.

## Save the API Client information

To use a commercetools SDK or an HTTP client such as Postman or Bruno, download the API Client information in a format suitable for your SDK or client.

Alternatively, you can copy these configurations to your clipboard and paste them into your existing configuration files.

To give an example, this guide explains how to download your API Client information in a `.env` file.

1. From the drop-down, select **Environment Variables (.env)** and click the download icon.

   ![Environment Variables that can be downloaded](https://docs.commercetools.com/api/images/api-client/environment_variables.png)

2. Locate the downloaded file. Its filename contains your Project key and API Client name, for example: `{projectKey}_{API client name}.env`.

   Optional: To use the downloaded file in your development project, rename it to `.env` and move it to your code base.

3. Open the downloaded file with any text or code editor. You'll need the environment variables in this file to retrieve the access token.

## Next steps

Now that you have your API Client set up, you are ready to retrieve your access token and [make your first API call](/api/getting-started/make-first-api-call.md) to your Project. Alternatively, you can [build your storefront with your coding agent](/api/dev-tooling/build-with-ai-storefront-from-scratch.md).

## Related pages

- [Area overview page with navigation](/api.md)
- [Previous page: Initial setup](/api/getting-started/initial-setup.md)
- [Next page: Make your first API call](/api/getting-started/make-first-api-call.md)
- [Search documentation and API specs](/search.md)