Create a credential
A credential is what a system signs in with. It belongs to one group, names the companies it may write for, and carries a secret that is shown once.
Where it lives
Common settings → API access, beside Hierarchy, Common COA, Mapping, Exchange rates, Intercompany Types and System Audit Trail.
Who may use it
- An administrator or a data administrator on the group.
- A group on the Pro or Premium edition. Below that the screen is not shown.
What the screen asks for
| Field | Required | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | What the credential is called in the list. Free text, up to 100 characters. |
| Companies it may write for | Yes, at least one | The companies the credential may write into. The group itself is not one of them — it is the consolidation node, not a source of data. |
| What it may write | Yes, at least one | One write scope per kind of data: accounts.write, trial_balance.write,
invoices.write, bills.write, transactions.write,
operation_data.write. Read scopes will be offered beside them when the endpoints that
answer with data ship — see Endpoints. |
| Credential expires on | No | The credential’s own end date. Separate from the token lifetimes — see Tokens. |
| Allowed IP addresses | No | One address or range per line. Empty allows any address. |
What is shown once
On saving, the screen shows the client ID and the client secret exactly once, with a copy button. Neither can be retrieved afterwards: only a hash of the secret is stored. If the secret is lost, create a new credential and revoke the old one.
Revoking
Revoking is one click and takes effect on the credential’s next request, not at its token’s expiry: every request re-reads the credential. The credential is never deleted — it stays in the list, marked revoked, so the audit trail can still say which credential posted what.
Creating and revoking are both written to the System Audit Trail.
What a credential can never do
- Write to a company it was not issued for.
- Write data it holds no scope for.
- Call from an address outside its allowlist, when one is set.
- Outlive its expiry date, or come back to life after being revoked.
- Keep working when the group’s edition drops below Pro. It stops writing and stays listed; if the edition returns, it works again.