Everything in your dashboard is also available over an API. That's how your storefront talks to your store – and it's how you, or a developer you hire, can connect YNS to anything else you use.

You don't need this for day-to-day selling. It's here when you want to automate something the dashboard doesn't cover.

## Create an API key

1. Open **Settings → API**.
2. On the **API keys** tab, create a key and give it a name that says what it's for – "Warehouse sync", not "key 2".
3. Choose what the key is allowed to do – see below.
4. Copy the key immediately and store it somewhere safe.

> **Caution:** Treat an API key like a password: never paste it into a public repository, a shared document, or a support chat.

### Choose what a key can do

A key doesn't have to be able to do everything. When you create one you pick its permissions, grouped by area:

| Group | Covers |
|-------|--------|
| **Storefront** | Reading your public catalog, carts, checkout, order lookup |
| **Catalog & content** | Writing products, blog posts, and media |
| **Orders & customers** | Reading and writing orders and customer records |
| **Marketing & messages** | Campaigns, subscribers, and customer messages |
| **Events** | Reading and writing events and attendees |
| **Administration** | Analytics, settings, team, and store-level administration |

Give each key the narrowest set that lets it do its job. A key for a warehouse tool that only reads orders and updates stock has no business being able to change your store settings – and if it leaks, the damage is bounded by what you granted it.

> **Note:** Keys you created before permissions existed keep working with full access. If you have old keys, replacing them with narrower ones is a cheap security win.

## See what's available

The **Endpoints** tab documents what you can do – products, variants, inventory, carts, checkout, orders, customers, collections, categories, blog posts, media, and subscribers. Requests support things you'd expect from the dashboard: filtering, pagination, sorting, and choosing a currency or language for the response.

If you've enabled [localization](/help/localization/multi-language), you can ask for translated content by passing a language code.

## What people use it for

- **Syncing stock** with a warehouse or point-of-sale system
- **Importing products** from another platform in bulk
- **Pushing orders** into fulfillment or accounting software
- **Building a custom storefront** on top of your catalog

Before you build any of these, check [Add-ons](/help/integrations/add-ons) and [Product feeds](/help/integrations/product-feeds) – plenty of common integrations are already there.

## Connected apps

**Settings → Connected apps** is a separate list: apps you've authorized to reach your account over OAuth, rather than with an API key. Connecting an AI assistant to your store through the MCP connector shows up here.

Each entry shows the app, which store it's connected to, and when you authorized it. **Disconnect** revokes access immediately – the app has to reconnect to get it back.

> **Tip:** Look through this list occasionally. Anything you don't recognize, or no longer use, should be disconnected.

## Keep keys tidy

Create a separate key per integration. When you retire a tool or a contractor's work ends, delete just that key instead of rotating everything. If a key is ever exposed, delete it straight away and issue a new one.

## FAQ

### Do I need to be a developer to use this?

Yes, realistically. The API is for building integrations. If you just want to connect a common service, look at [Add-ons](/help/integrations/add-ons) first.

### Can I see what a key has been used for?

Keep one key per integration and the name tells you. That's the practical reason to avoid a single shared key.

### I lost my API key.

Keys are shown once when created. If you've lost one, delete it and create a replacement, then update whatever was using it.

### Is my storefront using the API?

Yes – your storefront reads your catalog through it, which is why catalog changes appear on your store without a rebuild.

## What's next

- Check whether an [add-on](/help/integrations/add-ons) already does what you need.
- Sync your catalog the simple way with [Product feeds](/help/integrations/product-feeds).
- Automate with plain language instead – see [Get things done with the AI Assistant](/help/getting-started/ai-assistant).
- Review who has access in [Invite team members](/help/account/team-members).