# Authentication

To authenticate API requests, you need to generate your keys by sending an email to [support@sendcash.africa](mailto:support@buycoins.africa)

Two keys will be generated for you:

1. **Public Key**: Think of this as a username. It's how Sendcash knows which user is attempting to make a request.
2. **Secret Key**: Think of this as a password. Sendcash **never** stores your Secret Key, we will only generate it and send it to you. Copy & keep your secret key in a secure place (e.g Environment Variables).

To authenticate your GraphQL request, you need to use [Basic Authentication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_access_authentication) with the **Public Key as username** and the **Secret Key as password**.

### Basic Authentication Primer

* username (Public Key) and password (Secret Key) are concatenated into a single string: `username:password`
* This string is encoded with Base64
* The `Basic` keyword is put before this encoded value and shall result in something like this: `Basic am9objpzZWNyZXQ=`
* The entire string should be added to the header of the request with the key `Authorization`

```
curl --header "Authorization: Basic am9objpzZWNyZXQ=https://api.sendcash.africa/v1/graphql
```

### How to Authenticate with GraphQL

Most GraphQL client libraries have some way to add headers to all your requests. Here's a JavaScript example with [Apollo Boost](https://www.npmjs.com/package/apollo-boost)

```javascript
const ApolloClient = require('apollo-boost').default;

const authValue = 'Basic ' + Buffer.from(process.env.SENDCASH_PUBLIC_KEY + ':' + process.env.SENDCASH_SECRET_KEY).toString('base64');
const client = new ApolloClient({
    uri: process.env.SENDCASH_GRAPHQL_API,
    fetch: fetch,
    headers: {
        authorization: authValue
    }
})
```


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