Authentication

Samvad has built-in authentication support so you never need to manually type Authorization headers.

Auth Types

Type Use Case
None Public APIs, no auth required
Basic Username + password auth
Bearer JWT / OAuth 2.0 token auth
API Key Key in header or query param

Select an auth type in the Auth tab of the request editor.

None

No authentication headers are added. Use this for public endpoints.

Basic Auth

Samvad automatically base64-encodes username:password and adds it as an Authorization header.

Fields:

  • Username — Your username
  • Password — Your password

The generated header:

Authorization: Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==

Note: Basic auth sends credentials in every request. Always use HTTPS.

Bearer Token

Adds a Bearer prefix and inserts your token into the Authorization header.

Field:

  • Token — Your JWT or OAuth access token

The generated header:

Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...

This is the most common auth type for modern REST APIs and OAuth 2.0 flows.

API Key

Adds your API key either as a header or a query parameter.

Fields:

  • Key — The header/param name (e.g., X-API-Key, api_key)
  • Value — Your API key value
  • Add To — Choose Header or Query Parameter

As a header:

X-API-Key: your-secret-key-here

As a query parameter:

https://api.example.com/data?api_key=your-secret-key-here

Using Environment Variables

You can reference environment variables in any auth field using the {{variable}} syntax:

Bearer {{ACCESS_TOKEN}}

This makes it easy to switch between environments (dev/staging/production) without re-entering credentials. See Environments for setup.

Tips

  • Auth settings are persisted per request in your collection.
  • The auth tab shows a preview of the generated header.
  • Use Bearer for JWT tokens obtained via OAuth 2.0 flows.
  • Use API Key for services like OpenAI, Stripe, etc.