How to import existing keys into Tyk CE

Last updated: Mar 24, 2021 1 minute read.

You can use an API to import existing keys that were not created in Tyk into Tyk’s Gateway. This doc explains how to do that with the Gateway’s APIs directly.

This example uses standard authorization header authentication, and assumes that the Gateway is located at 127.0.0.1:8080 and the Tyk secret is 352d20ee67be67f6340b4c0605b044b7 - update these as necessary to match your environment.

To import a key called mycustomkey, save the JSON contents as token.json (see example below), then run the following Curl command:

The Example token.json file

{
  "allowance": 1000,
  "rate": 1000,
  "per": 60,
  "expires": -1,
  "quota_max": -1,
  "quota_renews": 1406121006,
  "quota_remaining": 0,
  "quota_renewal_rate": 60,
  "access_rights": {
    "3": {
      "api_name": "Tyk Test API",
      "api_id": "3"
    }
  },
  "org_id": "53ac07777cbb8c2d53000002",
  "basic_auth_data": {
    "password": "",
    "hash_type": ""
  },
  "hmac_enabled": false,
  "hmac_string": "",
  "is_inactive": false,
  "apply_policy_id": "",
  "apply_policies": [
    "59672779fa4387000129507d",
    "53222349fa4387004324324e",
    "543534s9fa4387004324324d"
    ],
  "monitor": {
    "trigger_limits": []
  }
}

The import of the key to Tyk:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/tyk/keys/mycustomkey -H 'x-tyk-authorization: 352d20ee67be67f6340b4c0605b044b7' -H 'Content-Type: application/json'  -d @token.json

Test the key after the import:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/quickstart/headers -H 'Authorization: mycustomkey'

See also the Keys section of the Gateway API Swagger doc.