Unkey: API Key Management for Agents

Unkey is a managed API key service that lets you issue, validate, and revoke API keys without building the infrastructure yourself. It adds rate limiting, role-based access control, usage analytics, and automatic rotation — the kind of controls your own agent APIs probably need.

• You are exposing an API or MCP server and need to give users controlled access.
• You want rate limits, budgets, or scoped permissions per key.
• You need real-time analytics on who is calling your service.
• Manual key rotation is becoming a security risk or operational pain.

• Fast key verification. Edge-verified keys with low-latency checks.
• Rate limiting and quotas. Per-key limits by requests, bandwidth, or cost.
• Fine-grained permissions. Scope keys to specific resources or actions.
• Usage analytics. See active keys, request patterns, and error rates.
• Easy SDK and API. Drop-in integration for most backends.

• Another dependency. If you already run a mature API gateway, evaluate whether Unkey replaces or augments it.
• Pricing at scale. High-volume APIs may prefer self-hosted alternatives.
• Not identity. It handles keys; user identity and authentication are separate concerns.
• Edge validation trust. Some compliance environments require verification on their own infrastructure.

• Free tier for small projects.
• Paid plans start around $20/month and scale with verified requests.
• Enterprise pricing available for custom SLAs and support.

Developers and teams shipping agent-powered APIs, tools, or MCP servers who need production-grade key management without building it from scratch.

• Next.js / FastAPI / Express backends through the Unkey SDK.
• Cloudflare Workers / Vercel Edge Functions for edge verification.
• OpenClaw / Hermes MCP servers and agent-facing APIs.