API keys

Respan lets you manage spending caps, expiry, and notifications per API key so you can hand keys to teammates or environments without worrying about runaway cost or stale credentials.

Use a separate key for each application and environment. This keeps usage attributable, limits the impact of replacing a credential, and lets you scope features such as data webhooks to the intended traffic.

Create an API key

Go to the API keys page and click Create new key.

1. Give the key a name that identifies its owner, application, and purpose.
2. Select the environment.
3. Configure limits, expiry, and notifications when needed.
4. Create the key and copy the secret to your secret manager when it is shown.

Environment

Tag each key as production or development so traffic, logs, and spend stay separated. Use distinct keys per environment instead of toggling an env parameter at request time.

Read the key inventory

The API keys page shows each key’s current status and environment and provides an actions menu for that key. Use the inventory to check that production services use production keys and that only credentials you still expect are active.

Names are operational metadata, not access control. Use a consistent pattern such as production-support-api or development-eval-runner, but do not include the key secret, customer data, or other sensitive values in the name.

Advanced settings

Lifetime limit

Cap total spend over the key’s entire lifetime. Toggle on and set a hard cost ceiling, or leave unlimited.

Recurring limits

Add one or more rolling spend caps (for example, Cost per day). For each cap, set:

• Alert at a soft threshold that sends a notification but lets requests continue.
• Block at a hard threshold that stops the key from making requests until the window resets.

Use the + to stack multiple windows (daily, weekly, monthly) on the same key.

Expiry controls

Set an expiration so a temporary key (demo, contractor, time-boxed project) self-terminates. Common presets like 2 weeks, 30 days, and custom dates are available.

Notifications

Turn on Limit alerts to notify when spend crosses an alert or block threshold. Send to email, Slack, or both. Connect Slack from the dropdown the first time you use it.

Monitor API keys

Track usage and spend per key on the dashboard to understand traffic patterns and catch unexpected charges early.

Replace a key safely

1. Create a new key with the intended environment and limits.
2. Store it in the service’s secret manager.
3. Deploy the service with the new key.
4. Confirm new requests appear under the replacement key on the Metrics dashboard or Logs page.
5. Only then use the old key’s available actions to disable or remove it.