--- title: API Key overview: A template that represents a single API key. location: https://istio.io/docs/reference/config/template/apikey.html layout: protoc-gen-docs number_of_entries: 2 ---

The `apikey` template represents a single API key, which is used for authorization checks.

## Template

The `apikey` template represents a single API key, used to authorize API calls.

Sample config:

    apiVersion: "config.istio.io/v1alpha2"
    kind: apikey
    metadata:
      name: validate-apikey
      namespace: istio-system
    spec:
      api: api.service | ""
      api_version: api.version | ""
      api_operation: api.operation | ""
      api_key: api.key | ""
      timestamp: request.time

Field | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
`api` | `string` | The API being called (api.service).
`apiVersion` | `string` | The version of the API (api.version).
`apiOperation` | `string` | The API operation is being called.
`apiKey` | `string` | API key used in API call.
`timestamp` | `istio.mixer.adapter.model.v1beta1.TimeStamp` | Timestamp of API call.

## istio.mixer.adapter.model.v1beta1.TimeStamp

TimeStamp is used inside templates for fields that are of ValueType “TIMESTAMP”