Setting up your environment

Get your account information

Contact your API Connect Essentials administrator for the account name, the domain, and the keys.

Your administrator provides the following keys for your account:

Account name: Your organization shares a single account, which serves as a user name when you log in.
Domain: The domain where API Connect Essentials is installed, which you specify when you log in.
Admin key: Grants access to upload, modify, configure, and deploy APIs.
When you log in to API Connect Essentials, you will be prompted for the admin key instead of a password.
API key: Grants access to consume GraphQL APIs and query the endpoints.
The API key is required for connecting to the APIs deployed to API Connect Essentials. Pass this key through the Authorization header in the following format:
```
Authorization: apikey {APIKEY}
```

Install the CLI

Use the CLI (command-line interface) to work with API Connect Essentials and your GraphQL APIs. The CLI is supported on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Install the Node.js runtime.
Node is required for running the CLI.
Install the CLI by running the following command:
```
npm install -g stepzen
```
If you receive EACCES errors with installing globally, see the Resolving EACCES permissions errors when installing packages globally in the Node documentation.
(Optional) Customize the default CLI configuration as explained in Configuring the CLI.

Log in to API Connect Essentials with the CLI.

API Connect Essentials does not provide a graphical UI. Instead, you use the CLI to work with the service.

Log in by running the following command:
```
stepzen login -a <account> <domain> 
```
where:
- <account> is the username of the account you want to log in to.
- <domain> is the domain or the region where API Connect Essentials is installed or hosted. For example, eu-central-a.ibm.stepzen.net or us-east-a.ibm.stepzen.net
For example, if the account is production, and the domain is graphserver.apps.my-rosa-cluster.abcd.p1, then the login command looks like the following example:
```
stepzen login -a production graphserver.apps.my-rosa-cluster.abcd.p1
```
Consider another example where the account is beaverdam and API Connect Essentials is hosted in the eu-central-a.ibm.stepzen.net region. In this scenario, the login command is:
```
stepzen login -a beaverdam graphserver eu-central-a.ibm.stepzen.net
```
When prompted, enter the admin key for the account.

The CLI logs in to the following URL:

https://stepzen.<domain>

For example:

https://stepzen.graphserver.apps.my-rosa-cluster.abcd.p1

Create a workspace directory for your project

When you are ready to starting building GraphQL APIs, change to the appropriate workspace directory to ensure your artifacts are stored in the correct location.

Create a workspace directory where you will work on a particular project.
Name the directory whatever you like.
Change to the new workspace directory.
Run the following command to initialize the workspace:
```
stepzen init
```

Get your API endpoint URL

The API endpoint URL is based on your account name, domain, and API name.

In your initialized workspace directory, run the following command:
```
stepzen start
```
Note down the API endpoint URL that displays in the response.
For example, if your account name is production, your domain is example.com, and your API name is harping-cat, you will see the following output:
```
Your API url is  https://production.example.com/api/harping-cat/__graphql
```
When you deploy an API, it is uploaded to this endpoint.

(Optional) Install Docker for local development

For instructions on setting up Docker for use with API Connect Essentials, see Using Docker for local API development.