Authentication

Pendra authenticates every request with a single API key. Keys are scoped to a Pendra organisation; rotate or revoke them at any time from the console without losing usage history.

Key format

Keys start with the literal prefix pdr_sk_ followed by a 32-byte URL-safe random string. Pendra stores only a SHA-256 hash of the key, so the raw value is shown exactly once at creation — save it immediately.

pdr_sk_xQ8yX...    # ~50 characters total

How to send the key

Pendra accepts the key on either of two headers; pick whichever your SDK uses.

Authorization: Bearer (recommended)

curl https://api.pendra.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pdr_sk_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"qwen3.6:27b","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'

x-api-key (Anthropic SDK compatibility)

The Anthropic Messages endpoint at /v1/messages also accepts x-api-key, which is how the official Anthropic SDK and Claude Code send credentials.

curl https://api.pendra.ai/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: pdr_sk_..." \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"qwen3.6:27b","max_tokens":256,"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'

Creating and rotating keys

1. Sign in to the Pendra console.
2. Open API Keys from the sidebar.
3. Click Create key, give it a name (e.g. "production server"), and copy the resulting pdr_sk_ value.
4. Store the key in your secret manager. The raw key cannot be retrieved again.

To rotate, create a new key, deploy it, then delete the old one. Deleted keys stop working immediately; existing usage logs remain.

Scopes & limits

• Every key belongs to exactly one organisation.
• Keys can call any inference endpoint (/chat/completions, /embeddings, /images/generations, /audio/transcriptions, /v1/messages, /v1/responses) and read-only listings (/models, /catalogue).
• Console-only actions (managing keys, billing, worker provisioning) sign in with your Pendra account instead of an API key — do those in the console UI.