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BotGauge accepts traces signed with an API key from the BotGauge cloud console. Keys belong to a project, so traces sent with a key land in that project.

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Create a key

1

Sign in

Go to cloud.botgauge.com and sign in.
2

Complete onboarding for your workspace

Follow the onboarding prompts for your workspace.
3

Generate a key

Open the project you want to trace into, go to Settings, Project, API keys, and choose Create key. Give it a name that says what uses it, such as CI - GitHub Actions, then copy the key. It starts with bg_.
BotGauge shows the full key once. Only the last four characters are kept for display afterwards, so store the key in your secrets manager before you close the dialog.
Creating, listing, and revoking keys requires the workspace Admin role. See Roles and permissions if you can’t see the API keys page.

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Put the key where BotGauge looks for it

The SDK and botgauge instrument both read the key from the BOTGAUGE_API_KEY environment variable. Set it in the shell or deployment that runs your app.
terminal

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Using a .env file

BotGauge doesn’t read .env files itself. Load the file before tracing.init(), for example with python-dotenv (pip install python-dotenv).
.env
app.py
For zero-code runs, hand the file to the launcher instead, because your app’s own load_dotenv() runs too late for it.
terminal
Keep .env out of version control. Add it to .gitignore before the first commit.

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Use the right token

Use the key you generated in the console. BotGauge rejects other tokens with 401, including the session token your browser receives when you sign in to the console. If a key is rejected, the SDK logs a single line on the first 401 or 403, botgauge: BotGauge rejected the API key (401 ...), and keeps your app running. Export happens on a background thread, so a bad key never crashes your application. See Troubleshooting for the full list of messages.

Generate a project key

Open BotGauge to create and copy an API key for your project.

Create an API key →

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Rotate and revoke

Revoking a key stops it working immediately and can’t be undone. To rotate, create the new key first, deploy it, confirm traces still arrive, then revoke the old one. The API keys table shows each key’s last four characters and when it was last used, which helps you confirm nothing still depends on a key before you revoke it.