Authentication

The LinkedIn Scraper API uses API keys to authenticate every request. There are no OAuth flows or session tokens — just a single header.

Including your API key

Pass your API key in the x-api-key header on every request:

curl -X POST https://api.nickautomations.com/linkedin/scrape \
  -H "x-api-key: <your-api-key>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ ... }'

The x-api-key header is required on all /scrape requests. Health and metrics endpoints do not require authentication.

Getting an API key

API keys are issued by the API provider. If you do not have one yet, contact your provider to request access. Each key has:

A rate limit (requests per second) specific to your account
An expiration date after which the key stops working

Error responses

If authentication fails, you’ll receive a 401 or 403 response:

Status	Meaning	What to do
`401`	API key header missing	Add the `x-api-key` header to your request
`403`	API key is invalid, expired, or inactive	Contact your provider to get a new key or resolve the issue

Example 401 response:

{
  "detail": "Missing x-api-key header"
}

Example 403 response:

{
  "detail": "Invalid or expired API key"
}

Keeping your key safe

Never commit your API key to version control or include it in client-side code that runs in a browser. Treat it like a password.

Best practices:

Store your key in an environment variable (e.g., LINKEDIN_API_KEY)
Rotate your key periodically — contact your provider to issue a new one
Do not share your key across multiple applications if they have different rate-limit needs

Next steps

Quickstart — see the API key in action
Rate Limiting — understand your per-key request limits
Scrape API Reference — full endpoint documentation

​Authentication

​Including your API key

​Getting an API key

​Error responses

​Keeping your key safe

​Next steps

Authentication

Including your API key

Getting an API key

Error responses

Keeping your key safe

Next steps