API
Keys
A free key, issued instantly, for the coverage-metadata endpoints. The story feeds need no key and never will.
What a key is for
Everything listed at /api.json — the story feeds, the country editions, RSS and the MCP server — is open, unmetered and needs no key. That does not change.
A key unlocks the layer above it: who else carried a story, from which countries, in what order, and how fast it spread. See plans.
Get a key
The key is shown once and stored only as a hash, so it cannot be shown again. Your address is a contact and billing reference — nothing is mailed to it. See Privacy.
Check usage, or manage billing
Using it
Send it as Authorization: Bearer un_…. Never in a query string — those end up in logs and browser history.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer un_…" \
https://urgent.news/api/propagation.json?hours=24An unrecognised key never fails a request on the open endpoints — it falls through to the anonymous tier and is served. The x-key-status response header says which tier answered, so a key that has quietly stopped working is visible rather than silent.