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The Spine API uses API keys sent as the X-API-KEY request header. The SDK adds the header for you on every request — you just need to give it a key.

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Passing the key

# Shell:
# export SPINE_API_KEY=sk_spine_...

from spine import SpineClient

with SpineClient() as client:
    ...
Never commit keys to source control. Use your deployment platform’s secret manager (AWS Secrets Manager, 1Password, Doppler, etc.) and inject them at runtime.
If no key is provided and SPINE_API_KEY is unset, SpineClient() raises ValueError immediately — before any network call.

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Key rotation

Keys revoked in the dashboard stop working on the next request; you’ll see AuthenticationError raised from the SDK. Roll new keys through your secret store before revoking the old one so running processes don’t break mid-run.

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Overriding the base URL

Point the SDK at a staging or enterprise deployment via base_url (or the SPINE_BASE_URL env var): 
client = SpineClient(base_url="https://staging.getspine.ai")
The SDK appends /v1 automatically, so pass the host without the API prefix.

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Injecting your own HTTP client

For advanced cases (custom proxies, SSL contexts, test doubles), pass a pre-configured httpx.Client or httpx.AsyncClient. The SDK still applies the X-API-KEY and User-Agent headers — your client does not need to set them. 
import httpx
from spine import SpineClient

transport = httpx.HTTPTransport(proxy="http://corp-proxy:8080")
http_client = httpx.Client(transport=transport, base_url="https://api.getspine.ai/v1")

with SpineClient(http_client=http_client) as client:
    ...
When you inject a client, the SDK does not close it on __exit__ — that’s your responsibility.