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Getting started

Quickstart

Get up and running with Tabstack API in minutes. This guide will walk you through authentication setup and your first API calls.

  • A programming environment (examples use curl and Python)
  • Basic knowledge of REST APIs

Before you can start using Tabstack API, you’ll need to create an API key and set it up in your environment.

  1. Visit the Tabstack Console
  2. Sign in to your account (or create one if you haven’t already)
  3. Navigate to the API Keys section and click the “Manage API Keys”
  4. Once you are on the API Keys page, Click “Create New API Key”
  5. Give your key a descriptive name (e.g., “Development”, “Production”) and click the “Create API Key”
  6. Copy the generated API key and store it securely

For security and convenience, we recommend storing your API key as an environment variable rather than hardcoding it in your scripts.

macOS/Linux
Terminal window
# Add to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.bash_profile)
export TABS_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
# Or set it temporarily for the current session
export TABS_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
# Reload your shell or run:
source ~/.bashrc # or ~/.zshrc
Windows (Command Prompt)
# Set temporarily for current session
set TABS_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
# Set permanently (requires restart)
setx TABS_API_KEY "your_api_key_here"
Windows (PowerShell)
# Set temporarily for current session
$env:TABS_API_KEY = "your_api_key_here"
# Set permanently for current user
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("TABS_API_KEY", "your_api_key_here", "User")

Test that your environment variable is set correctly:

macOS/Linux/Windows (Git Bash):

Terminal window
echo $TABSTACK_API_KEY

Windows (Command Prompt):

Terminal window
echo %TABSTACK_API_KEY%

Windows (PowerShell):

Terminal window
echo $env:TABSTACK_API_KEY

You should see your API key printed in the terminal.

Tabstack API uses API key authentication. Include your API key in the Authorization header:

Terminal window
Authorization: Bearer $TABSTACK_API_KEY

Now that you have your environment variable set up, you can use $TABSTACK_API_KEY (or %TABSTACK_API_KEY% on Windows Command Prompt) in your curl commands.

Let’s start with a simple markdown conversion to verify your setup:

Terminal window
curl -X POST "https://api.tabstack.ai/v1/extract/markdown" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TABSTACK_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"url": "https://example.com"
}'

Response:

{
"url": "https://example.com",
"content": "---\ntitle: Example Domain\ndescription: Example Domain\nurl: https://example.com\ntype: website\n---\n\n# Example Domain\n\nThis domain is for use in illustrative examples in documents. You may use this domain in literature without prior coordination or asking for permission.\n\n[More information...](https://www.iana.org/domains/example)"
}

Now that you’re up and running:

  1. Explore Examples: Check out our Price Monitor Example to see how to build a real-world application
  2. API Reference: Review the API Reference for detailed endpoint documentation