> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.swervpay.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Authentication

> Authenticate with Swerv API

Swervpay employs OAuth 2.0 as its fundamental security protocol. Access to Swerv endpoints necessitates obtaining an access token, granting entry to restricted endpoints.

To get an access token, you must first authenticate with the Swerv API. This is done by sending a POST request to the `/auth` endpoint with your business ID and secret key encoded in base64 as Basic Authorization in the request header.

<Info>Authentication URL: `POST` `https://api.swervpay.co/api/v1/auth`</Info>

### Sample Request

<CodeGroup>
  ```javascript Javascript theme={null}
  const response = await fetch(`https://api.swervpay.co/api/v1/auth`, {
      method: "POST",
      headers: {
          "Content-Type": "application/json",
          Authorization:  `Basic ${Buffer.from(`<BUSINESS_ID>:<SECRET_KEY>`).toString("base64")}`
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({}),
  });

  if (response.status !== 200 && response.status !== 201) {
      const body = await response.json();

      throw new Error(body as any);
  }

  const token = await response.json();
  ```

  ```php PHP theme={null}
  <?php

  $businessId = '<BUSINESS_ID>';
  $secretKey = '<SECRET_KEY>';
  $auth = base64_encode("{$businessId}:{$secretKey}");

  $options = [
      'http' => [
          'header'  => "Content-type: application/json\r\nAuthorization: Basic {$auth}",
          'method'  => 'POST',
          'content' => json_encode([]),
      ],
  ];

  $context  = stream_context_create($options);
  $response = file_get_contents('https://api.swervpay.co/api/v1/auth', false, $context);

  if ($response === FALSE) {
      throw new Exception('Error occurred while making request');
  }

  $httpCode = http_response_code();
  if ($httpCode !== 200 && $httpCode !== 201) {
      throw new Exception($response);
  }

  $token = json_decode($response, true);

  ?>
  ```

  ```go Go theme={null}
  package main

  import (
      "bytes"
      "encoding/base64"
      "encoding/json"
      "errors"
      "io/ioutil"
      "net/http"
  )

  func main() {
      businessID := "<BUSINESS_ID>"
      secretKey := "<SECRET_KEY>"
      auth := base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(businessID + ":" + secretKey))

      client := &http.Client{}
      req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.swervpay.co/api/v1/auth", bytes.NewBuffer([]byte("{}")))
      req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
      req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Basic "+auth)

      resp, err := client.Do(req)
      if err != nil {
          panic(err)
      }
      defer resp.Body.Close()

      if resp.StatusCode != 200 && resp.StatusCode != 201 {
          bodyBytes, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
          panic(errors.New(string(bodyBytes)))
      }

      var token map[string]interface{}
      json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&token)
  }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

### Sample Response

```json Response theme={null}
{
  "access_token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJleHAiOjE3MDc1OTc0NDMsImlhdCI6MTcwNzU5Mzg0MywiaXNzIjoiU3dlcnZwYXkiLCJpZCI6ImJ1c19tdml1TlNNS2k3NHZUWTh5dmZQNm5RIiwidGtuIjp7InR5cCI6ImJlYXJlciIsImlkIjoiZGY2OTNjY2MtM2YwYy00NDAwLWE0YTQtMmM1YjE4YjBjZTNiIn19.53eKLonZZ8zvC_i2M_P4sQfZlmc7x-bSc8J95TCtIwY",
  "token": {
    "type": "bearer",
    "expires_at": 1707597443075,
    "issued_at": 1707593843075
  }
}
```

<Warning>The access token gotten from the auth API expires after 1 hour.</Warning>