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updatedAt: 2026-08-04T19:19:00.000Z
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Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developer.ironcladapp.com/llms.txt. Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. Append .md to any documentation page URL to get its markdown version.

# Authentication

Ironclad primarily uses the [OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6749) to generate API bearer tokens that can be used to authenticate API requests.

See the following documentation to secure an API bearer token and use it to authenticate a request:

1. [Register your OAuth client application](https://developer.ironcladapp.com/reference/register-oauth-client)
2. Request a token
   * [Authorization Code Grant](https://developer.ironcladapp.com/reference/authorization-code-grant)
   * [Client Credentials Grant](https://developer.ironcladapp.com/reference/client-credentials-grant)
3. [Authenticate an Ironclad API resource request](https://developer.ironcladapp.com/reference/authenticate-a-request)

## Base URL

API calls must target the base URL of the environment you are using. The examples in this guide will use Ironclad's standard production URL (<https://ironcladapp.com>). Please log in to your Ironclad account and check the domain to verify the base URL.

**Note:** If you have purchased a separate sandbox instance, your base URL may differ from your production instance.