# Quickstart

This guide takes you from zero to a successful API call against your SendOps data. Plan on five minutes.


  The SendOps API does not send mail. Your application keeps calling AWS SES directly — the SendOps API lets you read what happened after.


## What you need

- A SendOps account.
- Permission to manage API keys in your org (Owner or Admin role by default).
- A working terminal with `curl`, or a runtime in one of the languages below.


  

Open **Settings → API Keys** and click **New API Key**.

- Give it a recognizable name (e.g. `local-dev`, `production-readme`).
- Choose **Live** unless you specifically want test-quota behaviour.
- Select scopes. For this quickstart you only need `api.reports.view`.

When you submit, the raw key is shown **once**. Copy it now — there is no way to retrieve it later.

  

  

The `_health` endpoint costs nothing and is the fastest way to confirm a key works.



A successful response looks like:



If you see `401`, the key is malformed or revoked. If you see `403`, the key is valid but is missing the scope the endpoint requires.

  

  

Now pull a deliverability snapshot for the last 7 days. This requires `api.reports.view`.


  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
    
  


  

  

`/v1/messages` returns up to 50 items per page by default. The `Link` header advances the cursor.



You'll see something like:

<CodeBlock lang="http" code={`Link: <https://api.sendops.dev/v1/messages?limit=10&cursor=eyJvZmZzZXQiOjEwfQ>; rel="next"`} />

Follow that URL exactly — the cursor is opaque; do not parse it. See [Pagination](/api-reference/pagination) for the contract.

  


## Where to next

- Read the full [Authentication](/api-reference/authentication) page if you need to rotate keys, set per-environment quotas, or understand the test-vs-live model.
- The [Errors](/api-reference/errors) page documents every error shape you can receive.
- The [OpenAPI spec](https://api.sendops.dev/openapi.json) describes every endpoint, request, and response in machine-readable form.