Why the API token is shown only once

Owners and admins open Settings → API tokens at /desk/settings#api. Create and revoke on /desk/settings#tokens. POST /api/orgs/tokens mints an ip_… secret; DELETE /api/orgs/tokens/:id revokes it. The full token is shown once. Inkpacket stores only a SHA-256 hash (tokenHash); the list shows the prefix. That is token-once honesty: there is no later reveal, Settings will not “email the secret again,” and opening Billing will not unlock a copy of a token you already closed.

How to mint and revoke is mint and revoke API Bearer tokens. Why a member never sees the dialog is members cannot mint API tokens. Why a secret stays in one org is why an API token never crosses workspaces. Desk help is Docs. This guide is why the list only shows a prefix after you leave the mint screen, and why that is the product — not a failed export.

Ask Inkpacket for why the API token is shown only once to open this article. Ask how the API works to open help. Ask create an api token to open Settings. Those phrases stay on the product screens. This article is the public version of The full token is shown once — the string help already uses next to mint.

What once covers

• The mint response shows the full ip_… secret. Copy it then. That is the only reveal.
• The list shows the prefix. Inkpacket stores tokenHash. There is no later full-token column.
• Revoke deletes that secret. Mint again if you lost it. The new value is a different token.
• Successful calls update lastUsedAt. That timestamp is not a second reveal.

Every /api/v1/packets and /api/v1/packets/:id* route requires Authorization: Bearer ip_…. A missing header returns 401 Bearer token required. A bad or revoked token returns 401 Invalid API token. Those 401s are not “show me the secret again.” Tokens never cross workspaces. GET /api/v1/health is public and does not take a Bearer token — health staying 200 is not a token export. Minting a token is not a send. An envelope you create and send with that Bearer counts. Free allows 5 packets a month. Losing the secret and minting another does not return HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT.

What this is not

• Not Bearer token required. That 401 means the header is missing. The desk still will not re-show an old secret.
• Not Invalid API token. That 401 means a bad, revoked, or cross-workspace secret.
• Not a member permission. Members cannot mint. Owners and admins still see the full value only once.
• Not checkout. Billing is not open. Paying a listed price does not add a reveal button.

Create and send still accept an Idempotency-Key if your client may retry. Webhooks are a different secret — the workspace signing secret used for HMAC. Rotating that secret does not reprint an API token. Reminders go out by email today. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Email still soft-fails on the envelope you send with the Bearer. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Drive missing: Drive not configured. Stripe off: Payments not live. None of those flags reprint ip_….

The click-path

1. Open Settings → API tokens. Mint. Copy the full ip_… value immediately.
2. If you already closed the dialog, mint a new token and revoke the old prefix. Do not open Billing for a reprint.
3. Store the secret on your side. The desk list will only show the prefix and lastUsedAt.
4. If send returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT, that is the monthly cap, not a lost token.
5. On a phone, tap Open desk menu for Settings. The full token is still shown once. Help is not a drawer row — it stays in the header.

The two 401s are why Bearer token required is not Invalid API token. Health staying public is why GET /api/v1/health needs no Bearer token. Ask Inkpacket for why the API token is shown only once to open this article. Ask how the API works to open help.

Ask and the secret

Ask Inkpacket for why the API token is shown only once to open this article. Ask how the API works to open help. Ask create an api token to open Settings. Marketing Ask stays site Q&A and deep links. It will not reprint a secret, mint a token, or call /api/v1 from this article. Once is the reveal. Your store keeps the rest.

Caps and what is not open yet

Reading the prefix list is not a send. Send that uses the Bearer is. Free allows 5 packets a month. Free at 5 packets a month is the live cap desk send, bulk rows, Web Form fills, and API send share. Hitting it returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. Starter is 20 envelopes — more than Free — plus 3 published Web Forms. Seat counts are planning numbers; invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.

Billing is published, not charging. Checkout is not open. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Drive missing: Drive not configured. Stripe off: Payments not live. Those flags do not reprint ip_… or invent an export. The FAQ and Public API use The full token is shown once in the same words.

Copy it at mint. Store it yourself. Open a workspace on Free — see published pricing — and mint a throwaway token, close the dialog, then look for a reveal that is not there so token-once honesty is a prefix list you already saw, not a checkout you opened for a reprint this pass does not ship.