18F/micropurchase

<h2 id="authentication">Authentication</h2>

<p>Currently all authentication occurs via the GitHub API. Rather than
having the micro-purchase platform generate and store API keys, GitHub
Personal API Tokens act as the API key. If you have created an account
on the micro-purchase platform, you are automatically signed up to use
the API. All you need to do
is <a href="https://github.com/blog/1509-personal-api-tokens">generate
a GitHub Personal API Token</a> (with no scopes) and put it in the
request headers for API requests:</p>

<pre>
  <code>
 Api-Key: the-personal-api-token
  </code>
</pre>

<p>Note that many routes do not require authentication to return
data. For instance, you do not need an API key to see details of a
single auction, although it will reveal your bidding information if an
authentication key is provided. Administrators use the same mechanism
for authentication but also must be marked as admins on the
Micro-purchase platform.</p>