> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.civicmarketplace.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> Make your first API call in under 5 minutes

## 1. Get your API key

[Request access](/request-access) if you don't have a key yet, or contact your CivicMarketplace account manager.

You'll receive a key in this format:

```
cmp_live_aBcDeFgH.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
```

<Warning>
  Keep your API key secret. Do not commit it to version control or expose it in client-side code.
</Warning>

## 2. Make your first request

Test your key by listing contracts:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl https://prod-api.civicmarketplace.com/v1/contracts?limit=3 \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer cmp_live_YOUR_KEY"
  ```

  ```javascript Node.js theme={null}
  const response = await fetch("https://prod-api.civicmarketplace.com/v1/contracts?limit=3", {
  	headers: {
  		Authorization: "Bearer cmp_live_YOUR_KEY",
  	},
  });
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  import requests

  response = requests.get(
      "https://prod-api.civicmarketplace.com/v1/contracts",
      params={"limit": 3},
      headers={"Authorization": "Bearer cmp_live_YOUR_KEY"},
  )
  print(response.json())
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## 3. Explore the data

A successful response looks like this:

```json theme={null}
{
	"data": [
		{
			"id": "ctr_abc123",
			"name": "Office Supplies Contract",
			"summary": "Competitively bid office supplies agreement",
			"lead_entity": { "id": "le_001", "name": "City of Houston" },
			"coop": { "id": "co_002", "name": "TIPS" },
			"suppliers": [{ "id": "sup_003", "name": "Office Depot", "location": "Boca Raton, FL" }],
			"city_services": [{ "id": "cs_004", "name": "General Government" }],
			"updated_at": "2026-04-15T09:00:00Z"
		}
	],
	"meta": {
		"next_cursor": "eyJpZCI6NDV9",
		"limit": 3
	}
}
```

## 4. Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Authentication" icon="lock" href="/authentication">
    Learn about API key scoping and environments.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Pagination" icon="arrow-right" href="/pagination">
    Page through large result sets with cursors.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Filtering & search" icon="filter" href="/guides/filtering-and-search">
    Narrow results by keyword, entity, and date.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Syncing data" icon="arrows-rotate" href="/guides/syncing-data">
    Keep a local copy of contracts up to date.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>