# Authentication

Each request you make to the API must include the following HTTP header in order to authenticate with the Shiplemon API

```
'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'
```

Replace the `YOUR_API_KEY` with your own API key. All API requests must be made over [HTTPS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Secure). Calls made over plain HTTP will fail. API requests without the above `x-api-key` header will also fail.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Keep Your API Keys Secure**

Your API keys carry many privileges, so be sure to keep them secure! Do not share your API keys in publicly accessible areas such as GitHub, client-side code, and so forth.

Make sure to familiarize yourself with security best practices around storing and using API keys. Never ever hard-code the API key into source control systems like Git, but extract this information into environment variables instead.

In the event, your API key is compromised, immediately revoke it from your account dashboard and create a new API key.
{% endhint %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.shiplemon.com/untitled.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.