Authentication

The OWB REST API uses API key authentication. Every request must include a valid key in the Authorization header.

Create an API key

1. Sign in to Ontology Workbench
2. Go to Settings → API Keys
3. Click Create, give the key a name (e.g. "CI pipeline")
4. Copy the key — it's shown once and cannot be retrieved again

Keys have the format owb_ followed by 64 hex characters.

Making requests

Include the key as a Bearer token:

curl $OWB_BASE_URL/api/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OWB_API_KEY"

Key scoping

API keys are account-scoped. A key has the same access as the user who created it:

• All personal models owned by that user
• All organization models where the user is a member (any role)

There are no read-only keys or restricted-scope keys. Treat your API keys as secrets.

Revoking keys

Go to Settings → API Keys and click the trash icon next to a key. Revocation is immediate — any in-flight requests using the key will fail.

Security best practices

• Never commit API keys to version control
• Use environment variables: OWB_API_KEY=owb_...
• Rotate keys periodically
• Create one key per integration so you can revoke individually

Error responses

See Errors for the full error response format.