Authentication

How to obtain and pass credentials to the Paubox Email API.

Every request to the Paubox Email API must include your API key in the Authorization header. Keys are generated per domain from the Paubox Email API > Settings page.

Find your credentials

1. Open Email API Settings

   Go to Paubox Email API > Settings and click the domain you want to send from.

2. Generate an API key

   Click Add API Key, give it a description, and save. Copy the key immediately; it is displayed only once.

3. Note the base URL

   All Email API requests go to the same base URL:

   https://api.paubox.com/v1/email
   

Pass credentials in requests

Include the Authorization header with every API call:

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.paubox.com/v1/email/messages \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json'

Bearer format (preferred)

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Legacy Token format (also accepted)

Authorization: Token token=YOUR_API_KEY

Both formats are accepted. New integrations should use Bearer.

Key rotation

• Generate a new key before revoking an old one to avoid downtime.
• Each domain can have multiple active keys, which is useful for rotating across services independently.
• Revoke keys immediately if they are exposed or a team member with access leaves.

Never commit API keys to source control. Use environment variables or a secrets manager to inject credentials at runtime.

# Good
export PAUBOX_API_KEY=your_api_key
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $PAUBOX_API_KEY" ...

# Bad: do not do this
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_abc123..." ...