xAI Grok API Authentication

Complete guide for setting up and managing xAI API authentication for Grok models with Twitter/X integration.

Quick Start

1. Get API Key

1. Go to console.x.ai
2. Sign in with your X (Twitter) account
3. Navigate to "API Keys" section
4. Click "Create API Key"
5. Copy and save the key (starts with xai-)

2. Set Environment Variable

# Add to .bashrc, .zshrc, or .env
export XAI_API_KEY="xai-your-key-here"

3. Test Connection

curl https://api.x.ai/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY"

Authentication Methods

Method 1: Environment Variable (Recommended)

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"
)

Method 2: Direct Key

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="xai-your-key-here",
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"
)

Method 3: Using xai-sdk

from xai_sdk import Client

client = Client(api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"))

API Compatibility

xAI API is fully compatible with OpenAI SDK:

# Just change base_url - everything else works the same
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"  # Only difference
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="grok-3-fast",  # Use Grok models
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

Free Credits

$150/Month Free Credits

1. Go to console.x.ai
2. Navigate to Settings → Data Sharing
3. Enable data sharing opt-in
4. Receive $150/month in API credits

Credit Usage

Action	Cost
Grok 4.1 Fast (input)	$0.20/1M tokens
Grok 4.1 Fast (output)	$0.50/1M tokens
X Search / Web Search	$5/1,000 calls
Code Execution	$5/1,000 calls

Configuration File

Create .env.xai:

# xAI API Configuration
XAI_API_KEY=xai-your-key-here
XAI_BASE_URL=https://api.x.ai/v1
XAI_DEFAULT_MODEL=grok-3-fast

Error Handling

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
no credits	No credits on account	Add credits or enable free tier
invalid_api_key	Wrong or expired key	Generate new key at console.x.ai
rate_limit_exceeded	Too many requests	Implement backoff, reduce frequency
model_not_found	Invalid model name	Check available models

Python Error Handling

from openai import OpenAI, APIError, RateLimitError

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"
)

try:
    response = client.chat.completions.create(
        model="grok-3-fast",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
    )
except RateLimitError:
    print("Rate limit hit, waiting...")
    time.sleep(60)
except APIError as e:
    print(f"API error: {e}")

Security Best Practices

1. Never commit API keys to git
2. Use environment variables instead of hardcoding
3. Rotate keys regularly via console.x.ai
4. Use separate keys for dev/prod environments
5. Add to .gitignore:

   .env
   .env.*
   **/secrets.*
   

Rate Limits

Model	Requests/Min	Tokens/Min
Grok 4.1 Fast	60	100,000
Grok 4	30	50,000
Grok 3 Mini	100	200,000

Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
https://api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions	Chat completions
https://api.x.ai/v1/models	List available models
https://api.x.ai/v1/responses	Agent Tools API

Related Skills

• xai-models - Model selection guide
• xai-x-search - Twitter/X search
• xai-sentiment - Sentiment analysis

References

• xAI Console
• xAI Documentation
• API Overview