---
layout: default
navsection: userguide
-navmenu: Reference
title: "Getting an API token"
-
...
-h1. Reference: Getting an API token
-
The Arvados API token is a secret key that enables the @arv@ command line client to access Arvados with the proper permissions.
-Access the Arvados workbench using this link: "https://workbench.{{ site.arvados_api_host }}/":https://workbench.{{ site.arvados_api_host }}/
-
-(Replace @{{ site.arvados_api_host }}@ with the hostname of your local Arvados instance if necessary.)
+Access the Arvados Workbench using this link: "https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/":https://{{ site.arvados_workbench_host }}/ (Replace @{{ site.arvados_api_host }}@ with the hostname of your local Arvados instance if necessary.)
-First, open a shell on the system on which you intend to use the Arvados client (this may be your local workstation, or an Arvados VM, refer to "Accessing Arvados over ssh":{{site.baseurl}}/user/getting_started/ssh-access.html ) .
+Open a shell on the system where you want to use the Arvados client. This may be your local workstation, or an Arvados virtual machine accessed with SSH ("Unix":{{site.baseurl}}/user/getting_started/ssh-access-unix.html#login or "Windows":{{site.baseurl}}/user/getting_started/ssh-access-windows.html#login).
-Click on the user icon <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-user"></span> in the upper right corner to access the user settings menu, and click on the menu item _Manage API token_ to go to the "api client authorizations" page.
+Click on the link with your _email address_ in the upper right corner to access the user settings menu, and click on the menu item *Manage account* to go to the account management page. On the *Manage account* page, you will see the *Current Token* panel, which lists your current token and instructions to setup your environment.
h2. The easy way
-For your convenience, the "api client authorizations" page on Workbench provides a "Help" tab that provides a command you may copy and paste directly into the shell. It will look something like this:
+For your convenience, the "Manage account" page on Workbench provides the "Current Token" panel that includes a command you may copy and paste directly into the shell. It will look something like this:
-bc. ### Pasting the following lines at a shell prompt will allow Arvados SDKs
-### to authenticate to your account, youraddress@example.com
-read ARVADOS_API_TOKEN <<EOF
-2jv9346o396exampledonotuseexampledonotuseexes7j1ld
-EOF
-export ARVADOS_API_TOKEN ARVADOS_API_HOST={{ site.arvados_api_host }}
+bc. Paste the following lines at a shell prompt to set up the necessary environment for Arvados SDKs to authenticate to your account, you@example.com
+HISTIGNORE=$HISTIGNORE:'export ARVADOS_API_TOKEN=*'
+export ARVADOS_API_TOKEN=2jv9346o396exampledonotuseexampledonotuseexes7j1ld
+export ARVADOS_API_HOST={{ site.arvados_api_host }}
+export ARVADOS_API_HOST_INSECURE=true
-* The @read@ command takes the contents of stdin and puts it into the shell variable named on the command line.
-* The @<<EOF@ notation means read each line on stdin and pipe it to the command, terminating on reading the line @EOF@.
-* The @export@ command puts a local shell variable into the environment that will be inherited by child processes (e.g. the @arv@ client).
+* The @export@ command puts a local shell variable into the environment that will be inherited by child processes such as the @arv@ client.
h2. Setting the environment manually
-Alternately, look for the column *api_token* contains the actual token string that you will use. Copy the value of *api_token* for the first row onto the clipboard.
+Alternately, copy the value of *ARVADOS_API_TOKEN* from the _Current Token_ panel onto the clipboard.
<notextile>
<pre><code>$ <span class="userinput">export ARVADOS_API_HOST={{ site.arvados_api_host }}</span>
</code></pre>
</notextile>
-* @ARVADOS_API_HOST@ tells @arv@ which host to connect to
-* @ARVADOS_API_TOKEN@ is the secret key used by the Arvados API server to authenticate access.
+* @ARVADOS_API_HOST@ tells @arv@ which host to connect to.
+* @ARVADOS_API_TOKEN@ is the secret key used by the Arvados API server to authenticate access. Its value is the text you copied from the *api_token* column on the Workbench.
If you are connecting to a development instance with a unverified/self-signed SSL certificate, set this variable to skip SSL validation:
h2. settings.conf
-Arvados tools will also look for the authentication information in @~/.config/arvados/settings.conf@. If you have already put the variables into the environment with instructions above, you can use these commands to create an Arvados configuration file:
+Arvados tools will also look for the authentication information in @~/.config/arvados/settings.conf@. If you have already put the variables into the environment following the instructions above, you can use these commands to create an Arvados configuration file:
<notextile>
<pre><code>$ <span class="userinput">echo "ARVADOS_API_HOST=$ARVADOS_API_HOST" > ~/.config/arvados/settings.conf</span>
h2. .bashrc
-Alternately, you may add the declarations of @ARVADOS_API_HOST@ and @ARVADOS_API_TOKEN@ to the @~/.bashrc@ file on the system on which you intend to use the Arvados client. If you have already put the variables into the environment with instructions above, you can use these commands to append the environment variables to your @~/.bashrc@:
+Alternately, you may add the declarations of @ARVADOS_API_HOST@ and @ARVADOS_API_TOKEN@ to the @~/.bashrc@ file on the system on which you intend to use the Arvados client. If you have already put the variables into the environment following the instructions above, you can use these commands to append the environment variables to your @~/.bashrc@:
<notextile>
<pre><code>$ <span class="userinput">echo "export ARVADOS_API_HOST=$ARVADOS_API_HOST" >> ~/.bashrc</span>
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