API · problem · HTTP 401
That key is not valid
This page is what the type field of the error points at. Every answer this API refuses carries one, and it is a stable address rather than a version of the docs.
The refusal
invalid-key- When it happens
- A credential was presented and cannot be read, or is not a key this service knows. Sending an unreadable Authorization header counts: it is never treated as an anonymous request.
- What to do
- Use Authorization: Bearer <key>, or omit the credential entirely for the open tier. ?key= also works and is the weaker form: it travels into logs, history and cache keys.
The shape of the answer
RFC 9457Problem details: type, title, status and detail, plus whatever the individual failure can usefully add. The detail is written for the person reading the log, and names the parameter or the id that caused it.
| type | This page’s address. Stable. |
|---|---|
| title | That key is not valid |
| status | 401 |
| detail | What went wrong, in this request. |
The full list of failures, with the schema, is in the API documentation.
Where a key comes from
HTTP 401A key is attached to an account rather than handed over once, so losing it is not an incident: sign in and it is there.
Every refusal this API can return
12 types- 404No such resource
- 400Malformed request
- 402The open tier runs twelve months behind
- 404Nothing in force on that date
- 404There is no national figure
- 400That regime belongs to another domain
- 401That path needs a key
- 405That path does not answer this method
- 503Ceiling reached
- 503This deployment is not fully configured
- 500This request failed on our side