Skip to content
Merged
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
70 changes: 70 additions & 0 deletions docs/marketing/blog/2026-04-21-org-scoped-api-keys.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
---
title: "Give Your AI Agents Org-Admin Access with Org-Scoped API Keys"
date: 2026-04-21
slug: org-scoped-api-keys
description: "Named, revocable, audited API keys that give AI agents and scripts full organization-level access — without a browser session. Mint from the canvas UI or CLI."
tags: [API keys, security, AI agents, org management, tutorial]
---

# Give Your AI Agents Org-Admin Access with Org-Scoped API Keys

Every Molecule AI organization has one bootstrap credential: `ADMIN_TOKEN`. It's a shared secret stored in AWS Secrets Manager, rotates only on redeploy, and can't be revoked without breaking every integration that depends on it.

Org-scoped API keys replace it.

Starting today, any org admin can mint a named API key — from the canvas UI or the CLI — give it a label like `ci-bot` or `claude-agent-prod`, and hand it to whatever needs org-level access. Revoke it the moment something looks wrong. Mint a replacement. Done.

No more shared secrets. No more ops intervention to rotate a key. No more wondering which integration is using which credential.

## What makes these different

Traditional API keys are static strings with no name and no history. Org API keys are:

- **Named** — every key has a label so you know which integration holds it
- **Audited** — every key records who created it (`session`, `org-token:<prefix>`, `admin-token`)
- **Revocable instantly** — one click and the next request with that key gets 401
- **Multi-key** — give each integration its own key so a compromise is scoped to one use case

```bash
# Mint a key from the CLI
curl -X POST https://your-org.moleculesai.app/org/tokens \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ADMIN_TOKEN" \
-d '{"name": "claude-agent-prod"}'
```

The response returns the plaintext token once. Store it in your secret manager — it won't be shown again.

## What a key can do

A valid org API key unlocks everything an org admin can do:

- Create, delete, and inspect all workspaces
- Import and export full organization definitions
- Manage per-workspace secrets (your Anthropic/OpenAI keys)
- Install templates, bundles, and plugins
- Approve or reject pending workspace requests
- Configure channels (Slack, Discord, and more)
- Mint and revoke other org API keys

It cannot touch the control plane (`/cp/admin/*`) or cross into other organizations.

## Rotating safely

If a key leaks, revoke it immediately:

```bash
curl -X DELETE https://your-org.moleculesai.app/org/tokens/:id \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $MOLECULE_ORG_TOKEN"
```

Revocation is instantaneous — the partial index on live tokens means the next request fails in microseconds, not after a background job runs.

If you revoke every key by accident, `ADMIN_TOKEN` is still there as the break-glass credential. You'll need to redeploy to rotate it, but access is never locked out.

## Scoped roles — coming soon

Today, every org API key grants full org admin. Role scoping (read-only, workspace-write, admin) is planned — so you'll eventually be able to give a monitoring script only the permissions it needs.

---

Ready to replace your `ADMIN_TOKEN`? Open **Settings → Org API Keys** in the canvas UI to mint your first key, or check `docs/guides/org-api-keys.md` for the full API reference.