# Set up Openprovider API access

> Openprovider does not issue an API key. InfraNest signs in as one of your Openprovider users instead, so what you set up here is a user, not a key.

Source: https://infranest.io/docs/set-up-openprovider-api-access
Last updated: 2026-09-14

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Set up a dedicated Openprovider user so InfraNest can connect — this is for anyone connecting an Openprovider account to InfraNest for domain or DNS management.

## Overview

- Openprovider doesn't issue API keys. Instead, InfraNest signs in as a user you create in your Openprovider account.
- Four settings have to be right before that user can connect, and three of them share the exact same error message as a wrong password — so it's worth getting each one right the first time.
- Once set up, you'll enter this user's username and password on the connect screen in InfraNest.

## Make a separate user for InfraNest

Don't use your own login for this. There are two reasons:

- If someone leaves, or you rotate your own password, you can change that without breaking the connection.
- Your own account almost certainly has two-factor authentication turned on, and a user with two-factor authentication cannot use the API at all. Openprovider made two-factor authentication mandatory for control-panel access in October 2025, so this is normal, not unusual.

1. In the Openprovider control panel, go to **Account**.
2. Add a new user for InfraNest.
3. Give it a password you haven't used anywhere else — you'll paste this into InfraNest, so it's worth it being a value that does nothing else.

## Switch API access on for that user

New users can't use the API until you allow it, and this has to be done per user — turning it on for your own account does not turn it on for the new one.

1. Go to **Account → Account Overview**.
2. Find the user you just created and check the **API access** indicator. Green means on, red means off.
3. If it's red, select the username, choose **Edit**, tick **API access Enabled**, and select **Update contact**.

## Do not set up 2FA on this user

Leave two-factor authentication off for the InfraNest user. A user with two-factor authentication can still sign in to the control panel, but cannot obtain an API token — and the error you get won't mention two-factor authentication at all.

Your own account keeps its two-factor authentication. This step only applies to the user you made for the API.

## Allow our IP address

Openprovider can restrict API access to particular addresses, and InfraNest connects from a fixed one.

1. Open the same user's settings and find the **API white list**.
2. Add the IP address InfraNest shows you on the connect screen.

> [!NOTE]
> Openprovider keeps this list per user and per access level. That means you can allow our address for the API while your own control-panel logins stay restricted to your office.

If the whitelist is blocking us, Openprovider returns a different error — "Access denied" rather than "Authentication/Authorization Failed" — and InfraNest will tell you it's the IP address rather than the password.

## Connect it in InfraNest

1. Go back to InfraNest and open **Integrations**.
2. Select **Openprovider**.
3. Enter the username and password of the user you made.
4. Select **Connect**.

## Troubleshooting

If it still won't connect, work through these in order — they're the four causes, most common first:

1. **API access is off** for that user. This is the most common cause, because it's off by default.
2. **Two-factor authentication is set up** on that user. Remove it, or make a user that never had it.
3. **Our IP address is not on the whitelist.** Openprovider's own advice is to clear the whitelist entirely until the connection works, then add addresses back.
4. **The password is wrong.** Genuinely the least likely of the four.

> [!WARNING]
> Three of the four causes above show the exact same "Authentication/Authorization Failed" message as a wrong password. Don't assume the password is the problem — check API access, two-factor authentication, and the whitelist first.