API key
An API key is a credential that lets a tool, workflow, or agent connect to Qontext's context repository directly through its API.
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What is an API key in Qontext?
An API key is a credential for programmatic access to Qontext, one of two ways a Client connects to the context repository, the other being an MCP client. You create one from the Clients tab, name it, and optionally set an expiration date.
Why do API keys exist in Qontext?
Custom applications, internal workflows, and agents need a direct line into the context repository, to read a file, run a search, or write an update. An API key lets those systems act on the repository on their own, without a person authenticating each call. A key represents a specific client rather than a shared login, so its activity stays separated from any person's account: it gets its own access controls and its own line in retrieval logs, instead of blending into what a teammate did directly.
How do API keys work?
A key can read and search the context repository, create and update files and folders, manage clients and sources, and retrieve logs, scoped to whatever access it's been granted. That access can inherit from the user who created the key, mirroring their access except Full access, or be managed independently through the key's Access controls tab or a file or folder's own settings. A key gets Can read or Can edit, never Full access. Any member can view or create a key, but only Owners, Admins, or the key's creator can update or delete it. A separate key per workflow or agent keeps revocation clean and makes it obvious in retrieval logs which key is behind a given piece of activity.