Getting started and authentication

Get an API key and make your first authenticated call in under five minutes.

Every BuildData request is authenticated with an API key sent as a header. There is nothing to install and no OAuth flow.

1. Get your key

Sign up at builddata.ca/subscribe/ with your email address. The free tier needs no card, and your key appears on your dashboard straight away.

2. Send it on every request

Pass a single header with each call:

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5' \
  --header 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY'

import requests

url = "https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5"
headers = {"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
resp = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print(resp.json())

const res = await fetch("https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5", {
  headers: {
    "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
  },
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

<?php
$ch = curl_init("https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
    "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY",
]);
echo curl_exec($ch);

require "net/http"
require "uri"

uri = URI("https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5")
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req["X-API-Key"] = "YOUR_API_KEY"
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts res.body

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "io"
    "net/http"
)

func main() {
    req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5", nil)
    req.Header.Add("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
    res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    defer res.Body.Close()
    body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
    fmt.Println(string(body))
}

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create("https://api.builddata.ca/permit?municipality=toronto&limit=5"))
    .header("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
    .build();
HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
    .send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(res.body());

3. You're in

A 200 response returns JSON. A 403 means the key is missing, wrong, or no longer active; a 429 means you have spent the day's requests. See the endpoint reference for every route BuildData exposes.

Ready to build?Create a free key and start calling BuildData in minutes. No card required.

Get your API key →