Authentication

There are two methods to authenticate to RIPE Atlas, and you can use most of our API endpoints unauthenticated (i.e. as an anonymous user).

The two authentication methods are:

• Use an API key. This is the preferred way of authenticating to the API
• Use a session-based cookie. This is primarily used on the main RIPE Atlas website, since cross-site requests are not supported with this method

An authenticated API request can be authorised for one or multiple of the following actions:

• Request full details of non-public objects, including IP addresses
• Create a measurement request
• Stop a measurement
• Add or remove probes from a measurement

Please note that geographic locations will always be obfuscated. See here for more details.

If you're not using session-based authentication, each of these actions require a key that holds the required permission for that particular action. A key can only hold one permission, but some permissions imply accumulated permissions. For example, a key with a create-measurement permission can also be used to view measurements.

More information on viewing your own measurements is available here.