Getting Started

This guide walks you through the minimum steps needed to send your first request through CanalAPI.

1. Create an account

1. Open the CanalAPI console at https://www.canalapi.com.
2. Sign up with email and password, or with a supported third-party identity provider.
3. Verify your email if prompted.

2. Create an API key

1. In the console, open API Keys.
2. Click Create new key.
3. Give the key a recognizable name (for example, local-dev or production).
4. Copy the key and store it somewhere safe — you will only see it once.

3. Set the Base URL

CanalAPI is OpenAI-compatible. You can reuse the official OpenAI SDKs by overriding the baseURL and the API key.

export CANALAPI_BASE_URL="https://api.canalapi.com/v1"
export CANALAPI_API_KEY="sk-..."

The exact production Base URL is shown in your console. If you operate in a region with restricted egress, refer to the console for the recommended URL for your account.

4. Send your first request

curl "$CANALAPI_BASE_URL/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CANALAPI_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
      {"role": "user", "content": "Say hi in one short sentence."}
    ]
  }'

A successful response looks like:

{
  "id": "chatcmpl-...",
  "object": "chat.completion",
  "created": 1730000000,
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "choices": [
    {
      "index": 0,
      "message": {"role": "assistant", "content": "Hi there!"},
      "finish_reason": "stop"
    }
  ],
  "usage": {"prompt_tokens": 18, "completion_tokens": 4, "total_tokens": 22}
}

5. Next steps

• Explore Examples for curl / JavaScript / Python snippets.
• Learn Authentication details.
• Understand Errors and Rate Limits before going to production.