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An API key is a long secret string that a service issues so it can identify whoever calls it. An app sends the key with each request, and the service checks it before answering. The key proves who is calling, not what the caller may do, and it keeps working until someone revokes it. CorpusIQ connects your tools through scoped OAuth instead, so an assistant reads live data without you pasting secrets around.
Related pillar: Connect your business tools to ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity
An API key is a long, random string of letters and numbers, like a password for software instead of a person. A service issues it to you, you store it, and your app sends it along with each request. The service reads the key, confirms it matches a valid account, and only then runs the request. It is the simplest form of authentication: one secret that proves who is calling.
An API key is a single secret that grants access to whatever it was issued for. OAuth is a handshake that grants a limited, scoped token, often read-only, that can be revoked separately from the account password. A leaked API key is a problem until you rotate it. A leaked OAuth token is a smaller problem, because it is scoped to what you authorized and expires on its own. For connecting business data to an AI assistant, scoped OAuth is the safer default.
API keys are everywhere: a payment provider key that lets an app charge a card, a maps key that renders a map, a weather key that returns a forecast. Each one is pasted into code or a settings screen and then forgotten. The risk is that a key pasted into the wrong place, committed to a repo, or left in a shared document is a live credential that anyone who finds it can use.
Treat a key like a password. Generate it with the narrowest permissions the task actually needs. Store it in a secrets manager or an environment variable, never in source code or a message. Rotate it on any suspicion of exposure, and audit which keys are still active. The keys you forgot about are the ones that get misused.
CorpusIQ connects your tools to ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity through scoped OAuth rather than raw API keys, so you do not paste secrets into prompts or chat windows. It reads the live systems at the moment you ask, through 40+ read-only connectors, and returns an answer with a citation on every figure. It does not create campaigns, change bids or budgets, send email, or edit records in the systems you connect.
40+ read-only connectors. ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Solo $29.95 a month. 30-day free trial.