Create an account
Register on cognichem.com with your email address, then confirm it from the email we send. The same account works in the app, the API, the Python SDK, and the MCP server.
New accounts start on the Basic plan. Basic has no monthly wallet credit, so add funds before your first job: open your billing page and add funds to your wallet (card payment through Stripe). Starter and Pro add credit to your wallet every month. Plans and limits compares them.
Create an API key
- Open the API keys page in your account and choose Create key.
- Enter a name that says where the key will be used (for example
laptoporci). Optionally limit its scopes, set an expiry date, or cap what it can spend, then create it. - Copy the key. It is shown once; afterwards only its first characters are listed.
Keep the key out of source code. The examples in these docs read it from an environment variable:
export COGNICHEM_API_KEY="paste-your-key-here"Check that it works:
curl https://api.cognichem.com/api/v1/auth/check \
-H "X-Api-Key: $COGNICHEM_API_KEY"# pip install cognichem-client
from cognichem_client import CogniChem
client = CogniChem.from_env() # reads COGNICHEM_API_KEY
print(client.auth.check())A valid key returns 200. A missing, wrong, revoked, or expired key returns 401.
Keep keys safe
- Give each machine or service its own key, so you can revoke one without breaking the others.
- Rotate a key to get a new secret for it; the old secret stops working immediately.
- Revoke a key you no longer use. Revoking cannot be undone.
- Each plan allows a set number of keys; see Plans and limits.
Keys created in your account can read and write. When you create a key through the API instead, you can also give it only the read scope, an expiry date, and a spend ceiling; see Authentication. Those options are the safest choice for a key you hand to an AI client.