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Available authentication methods

There are two available authentication methods to access Proxy networks.
  1. Username and password combination
  2. Using API key

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When to use username & password for Proxy authentication

Bright data uses your account ID concate Bright Data uses the proxy username to pass on proxy configuration parameters to our proxy network, by concatenating the paramater name and values separates by - charachter, to the proxy username. This authentication method is preferred when using 3rd party tools which take Proxy Native configruation, and do not support REST API operations. To read more about Native Proxy access vs. REST API access read here: API vs Native access

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Using API key to access proxy networks over REST API

API key enables access to proxy networks. Some users may find API key more convenient to use. API key allows you:
  1. Control your access with one key, instead of combination of two
  2. Key is tied to a names user, which enhances traceability
  3. Key to access all zones
  4. Easier migration to high level scraping solutions for hard to access domains
  5. Full compliant with REST API

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Creating an API key

Please see here about our API key and its usage.

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How to use the API key

When using curl API key is used as part of the header fields:
curl
 curl  -H "Authorization: Bearer <API_KEY>" "rest OF curl params"
When using this in REST API, populate the Authorization bearer string with the API key as shown in the API playground.