Why Bearer token required is not Invalid API token

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. Successful calls update lastUsedAt. Tokens never cross workspaces. That is bearer-versus-invalid honesty: an empty header is not a wrong secret, a revoked prefix is not “mint again from Billing,” and neither 401 is a send-volume 429.

Health is a different door — why GET /api/v1/health needs no Bearer token. Who can mint is members cannot mint API tokens. How to mint and revoke is mint and revoke API Bearer tokens. Desk help is Docs. This guide is why the two 401 strings are not interchangeable.

Ask Inkpacket for why Bearer token required is not Invalid API token to open this article. Ask how the API works to open help. Ask how to create an api token to open Settings #tokens. Those phrases stay on the product screens. This article is the public version of why a monitor that forgot the header should not rotate a live secret, and why a revoked token should not be “fixed” by adding the word Bearer twice.

The two 401s

• Bearer token required — no Authorization header, or the header is not Bearer ip_….
• Invalid API token — the secret is wrong, revoked, or from another workspace.
• lastUsedAt moves only on success. A 401 does not bump last-used.
• GET /api/v1/health stays public. A 200 there is not permission to POST envelopes.

Owners and admins mint at Settings → API tokens. The full token is shown once. Inkpacket stores only a SHA-256 hash (tokenHash); the list shows the prefix. Members cannot mint. Do not paste ip_… into an envelope title. Do not send the secret through a signing invite — that object is a PDF link, not a seat. A worker that creates envelopes stores the secret. A worker that only reads flags hits health without a header. Tokens never cross workspaces: a secret from org A is Invalid API token on org B, not Bearer token required.

What this is not

• Not HTTP 429. Access-code 429 is a signer PIN lockout. Send volume over the monthly cap is HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT, not 429. A token over 120 requests per minute per token returns HTTP 429.
• Not HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. That is the monthly send cap after a valid token is accepted.
• Not a plan gate. Starter is 20 envelopes — more than Free. A listed price does not change the 401 strings.
• Not checkout. Billing is not open. Paying does not reprint a revoked secret.

Each API token allows 120 requests per minute per token. Over that limit, /api/v1 returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header. Inkpacket does not send X-RateLimit headers. The send guard is HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. Idempotency-Key on create, fill, or send replays a stored body — it does not fix a missing header. Reminders go out by email today. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Email still soft-fails after a valid send. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Drive missing: Drive not configured. Stripe off: Payments not live.

The click-path

1. If the body says Bearer token required, add Authorization: Bearer ip_…. Do not revoke.
2. If the body says Invalid API token, mint a new secret as owner or admin, or un-revoke is not a verb — mint again.
3. Confirm last-used only moves after a 200 or a real envelope error, not after a 401.
4. Call health without a header when you only need flags.
5. On a phone, tap Open desk menu for Settings. The workspace switcher above Menu will not mint a token.

Ask Inkpacket for why Bearer token required is not Invalid API token to open this article. Ask how to create an api token to open Settings. Marketing Ask stays site Q&A and deep links. It will not mint a Bearer token or POST an envelope from this article. Read the 401 string before you rotate.

Caps and what is not open yet

Reading a 401 is not a send. Send 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 print a token or merge the two 401s. The FAQ and Public API use A missing header returns 401 Bearer token required. A bad or revoked token returns 401 Invalid API token in the same words.

Add the header, or mint a new secret. Stay on that organization. Open a workspace on Free — see published pricing — and call envelopes once without Authorization on purpose so bearer-versus-invalid honesty is a string you already read, not a revoke you opened Billing to undo.