Authentication

The CLI supports three ways to authenticate. Pick the one that fits your environment.

API key

Generate a key in your dashboard, then sign in:

retrace auth login --key rt_your_key_here

Credentials are stored securely in your operating system keyring (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or the Linux Secret Service).

Browser login

Authenticate interactively without copying a key:

retrace auth login

This prints a one-time code and opens your browser. Enter the code to authorize the CLI on this machine.

Environment variable

For CI pipelines and other non-interactive environments, set the API key as an environment variable. It takes priority over any stored credentials:

export RETRACE_API_KEY=rt_your_key_here
retrace traces list

Session management

retrace auth whoami    # Show the authenticated user, email, and plan
retrace auth status    # Show the auth method, API URL, and session expiry
retrace auth logout    # Clear all stored credentials

Next steps

With the CLI authenticated, continue to Traces.