Introduction
General concepts, response codes, and authentication strategies for the Bigcapital API.
This section introduces the Bigcapital API, including authentication, response codes, and rate limits.
Base URL
The Bigcapital API is built on REST principles. We enforce HTTPS in every request to improve data security, integrity, and privacy. The API does not support HTTP.
All requests contain the following base URL:
Authentication
To authenticate, add an Authorization header with the contents of the header being Bearer bc_xxxxxxxxx where bc_xxxxxxxxx is your API Key.
Response codes
Bigcapital uses standard HTTP codes to indicate the success or failure of your requests.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| 200 | Successful request. |
| 400 | Check that the parameters were correct. |
| 401 | The API key used was missing. |
| 403 | The API key used was invalid. |
| 404 | The resource was not found. |
| 429 | The rate limit was exceeded. |
| 5xx | Indicates an error with Bigcapital servers. |
Rate limit
The default maximum rate limit is 2 requests per second. This number can be increased for trusted senders by request. After that, you’ll hit the rate limit and receive a 429 response error code.