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API_KEY_HANDLING.md

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API Key Handling in Autocache

Overview

Autocache supports flexible API key configuration, allowing keys to be provided either in the proxy environment or in each request.

Priority Order

The proxy checks for API keys in this order:

  1. Request Headers (highest priority):

    • Authorization: Bearer sk-ant-...
    • x-api-key: sk-ant-...
    • anthropic-api-key: sk-ant-...

  2. Environment Variable (fallback):

    • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Implementation

See proxy.go:217-241 for the ExtractAPIKey function:

func ExtractAPIKey(headers http.Header) string {
    // Check Authorization header
    auth := headers.Get("Authorization")
    if auth != "" {
        if strings.HasPrefix(auth, "Bearer ") {
            return strings.TrimPrefix(auth, "Bearer ")
        }
        return auth
    }
    
    // Check x-api-key header
    apiKey := headers.Get("x-api-key")
    if apiKey != "" {
        return apiKey
    }
    
    // Check anthropic-api-key header
    // ... (fallback)
}

And handler.go:254-264 for fallback logic:

func (ah *AutocacheHandler) getAPIKey(r *http.Request) string {
    // First try to get from request headers
    apiKey := ExtractAPIKey(r.Header)
    if apiKey != "" {
        return apiKey
    }
    
    // Fall back to configured API key
    return ah.config.AnthropicAPIKey
}

Usage Patterns

Pattern 1: API Key in Requests (Recommended for n8n)

Advantages:

  • Different users/workflows can use different API keys
  • No need to restart proxy to change keys
  • Better for multi-tenant scenarios

Configuration:

# docker-compose.n8n.yml
autocache:
  environment:
    - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY:-}  # Optional fallback

n8n HTTP Request Node:

Headers:
  x-api-key: sk-ant-your-key-here
  anthropic-version: 2023-06-01

Pattern 2: API Key in Proxy Environment

Advantages:

  • Centralized key management
  • No need to configure in each request
  • Simpler for single-user scenarios

Configuration:

# docker-compose.n8n.yml
autocache:
  environment:
    - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-key-here

n8n HTTP Request Node:

Headers:
  anthropic-version: 2023-06-01
  # No API key needed - proxy provides it

Pattern 3: Hybrid (Both)

Use Case: Provide a default key in environment, but allow override per request

Configuration:

autocache:
  environment:
    - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-default-key

Request can override:

Headers:
  x-api-key: sk-ant-custom-key  # This takes priority

Security Notes

  1. Request headers are NOT logged by default
  2. API keys are redacted in logs: ***redacted***
  3. When forwarding to Anthropic, the key is sent in x-api-key header
  4. Any Authorization header is removed before forwarding

Testing

Test with curl:

# Using header (no .env needed)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: sk-ant-your-key" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022","max_tokens":100,"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'

# Using environment variable (from proxy)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/messages \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022","max_tokens":100,"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'

Summary

✅ API key in request headers (recommended for n8n, multi-user) ✅ API key in proxy environment (simpler for single-user) ✅ Both methods can coexist (request header takes priority)