> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://e2b.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# API key

To use the API key, you can either:

* **Set the API key as the `E2B_API_KEY` environment variable** to avoid passing it each time you create a sandbox.
* Or pass it directly to the `Sandbox` constructor as shown below:

<CodeGroup>
  ```js JavaScript & TypeScript theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark-default"}}
  import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

  const sandbox = await Sandbox.create({ apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY' })
  ```

  ```python Python theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark-default"}}
  from e2b import Sandbox

  sbx = Sandbox.create(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Where to find API key

You can get your API key at [dashboard](https://e2b.dev/dashboard?tab=keys).

The same API key authenticates both the SDKs and the [CLI](/docs/cli/auth).