Authenticate to the Stax API

Stax provides two types of credentials for authenticating to the Stax API: API Tokens and Session Credentials. The credentials serve different purposes and your use case will dictate which type of credentials you will use.

Overview

The below table provides a summary of API Tokens and Session Credentials.

	API Tokens	Session Credentials
Description	Long-lived credentials you can create within Stax. Created by an administrator and can be assigned any role in Stax	Short-term credentials which are created as part of your Stax session. Mapped to an individual's Stax user credential and inherits their role
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Use case	Designed for machines, such as automated build pipelines	Designed for humans, especially those who want to experiment and explore the Stax API on an ad-hoc basis
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Usage	API Tokens can only be used with the Stax SDK for Python	Session Credentials can be used with a developer tool, such as Postman. They do not work with the Stax SDK for Python
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Attributes	Name Description Tags Role Access Key Secret Key	Access Key ID Secret Access Key Session Token
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Accessibility	Accessed via the Customer Menu in the left-hand nav, under API Tokens	Accessed via the left-hand nav, under the Profile page
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Validity	Does not expire, however, regular credential rotation is recommended	Expires after 60 min
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