# Authentication Mechanisms

To interact with the Management Console API, every request must be authenticated.

As a [Distributor ](/partner-portal-help/management-console-guide/using-icmc-as-a-distributor/api-keys.md)or a [Channel Partner](/partner-portal-help/management-console-guide/using-icmc-as-a-channel-partner/api-keys.md) administrator, you will need first to create an API key. That API key is a [bearer token](https://swagger.io/docs/specification/authentication/bearer-authentication/) which has to be included in the Authorization HTTP header of your API requests.

{% hint style="info" %}
`Authorization: Bearer <token>`
{% endhint %}

Where `<token>` is your API key.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Regardless of which tool you are using to interact with Management Console API, please ensure to add the word **Bearer** followed by a single space before adding the API key into the **Authorization** header. If this is not added, the API key will not work and you will receive the following error: "**Authorization header is missing**".
{% endhint %}


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