# Mint a system key

POST

/v1/system/keys

```sh
curl --request POST \
  --url https://example.com/v1/system/keys \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{ "scopes": [ "system:tenants" ], "label": "example", "expiresAt": "2026-04-15T12:00:00Z" }'
```

A system key (`kgi_sy_…`) is the operator’s, for a service that acts for it (sign-up, the orchestrator, billing, the license renewal), with the least scope that service needs. It acts in no tenant: it reaches `/v1/system/*` and the deployment’s license, and every other route refuses it (`system-key-on-tenant-route`). Every request it makes is recorded. Only the full system capability (`kindgi:system`: the deployment’s own token, or a full system key) mints one, and a key can’t outlive the key minting it. Returns the plaintext token exactly once. On a runtime serving one tenant, only the deployment’s own token reaches the system keys, and a key holds `system:license` alone: it reads `GET /v1/license` and `GET /v1/license/usage`, for the license renewal, and every other route refuses it.

## Authorizations

- **[bearerAuth](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/api.md#bearerauth)**

## Parameters

### Header Parameters

**Idempotency-Key**

string

\>= 1 characters

Caller-supplied idempotency key, scoped to the caller: the same key from someone else in the tenant is their own request (from 0.1.5). Retries with the same key return the original response byte-identical (per `docs/API-ROUTE-CONVENTIONS.md` §3.1). A retry sent while the first request still runs is answered `409 idempotency-key-in-flight` with `Retry-After`, on a runtime whose store holds keys (from 0.1.5); retry after it, and you get the first request’s answer. An answer that carries a secret (a new API key or public run token, a session token, a generated signing secret) isn’t kept: a retry gets `409 idempotency-key-replay-withheld`, with the first request’s status and when it succeeded (from 0.1.5).

## Request Bodyrequired

application/json

object

**scopes**

required

The least the key’s service needs; `kindgi:system` alone for a full key.

Array\<string>

\>= 1 items unique items

Allowed values: system:tenants system:tenants:create system:tenants:image-prefix system:tenants:production system:tenants:limits system:tenants:contacts system:tenants:purge system:suspend system:deployments system:pack-env system:usage:read system:license kindgi:system

**label**

string

\>= 1 characters <= 100 characters

**expiresAt**

When it stops working. A minter that expires mints only keys expiring no later than it.

string format: date-time

## Responses

### 201

System key minted.

application/json

The new system key, plus its secret.

object

**id**

required

The key’s id.

string

**label**

What the key is for, as given at mint.

string

**scopes**

required

Array\<string>

Allowed values: system:tenants system:tenants:create system:tenants:image-prefix system:tenants:production system:tenants:limits system:tenants:contacts system:tenants:purge system:suspend system:deployments system:pack-env system:usage:read system:license kindgi:system

**createdAt**

required

string format: date-time

**expiresAt**

string format: date-time

**revokedAt**

string format: date-time

**mintedBy**

required

Who minted it: a system key’s id, or `boot` for the deployment’s own token.

string

**token**

required

Plaintext bearer token (`kgi_sy_…`). Returned exactly once at mint time.

string

##### Example

```json
{
  "scopes": [
    "system:tenants"
  ]
}
```

### 400

Malformed request body: no scopes, one that is not a system scope, a scope twice, `kindgi:system` beside another, a past `expiresAt`, or an empty label; on a runtime serving one tenant, any scope but `system:license`.

application/json

object

**error**

required

object

**code**

required

Stable machine-readable discriminant. Values match domain error codes (see `docs/API-ROUTE-CONVENTIONS.md` §4.3).

string

**message**

required

string

**details**

Optional, kind-specific.

object

**_key_**

additional properties

any

**requestId**

required

Server-assigned request id; also echoed via `X-Request-Id` header.

string

##### Examplegenerated

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "example",
    "message": "example",
    "details": {},
    "requestId": "example"
  }
}
```

### 401

Missing / malformed / expired / revoked bearer token.

application/json

object

**error**

required

object

**code**

required

Stable machine-readable discriminant. Values match domain error codes (see `docs/API-ROUTE-CONVENTIONS.md` §4.3).

string

**message**

required

string

**details**

Optional, kind-specific.

object

**_key_**

additional properties

any

**requestId**

required

Server-assigned request id; also echoed via `X-Request-Id` header.

string

##### Examplegenerated

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "example",
    "message": "example",
    "details": {},
    "requestId": "example"
  }
}
```

### 403

A tenant’s key or session (`system-principal-required`); a scoped system key (`system-scope-missing`, `details.scope` `kindgi:system`; on a runtime serving one tenant, `system-key-scope-not-served` for one holding anything but `system:license`); a key that would outlive the key minting it (`token-expiry-exceeds-minter`, its `details.latestExpiresAt` the latest allowed); a full key minted by another system key without `expiresAt` (`system-key-expiry-required`: only the deployment’s own token mints one that never expires).

application/json

object

**error**

required

object

**code**

required

Stable machine-readable discriminant. Values match domain error codes (see `docs/API-ROUTE-CONVENTIONS.md` §4.3).

string

**message**

required

string

**details**

Optional, kind-specific.

object

**_key_**

additional properties

any

**requestId**

required

Server-assigned request id; also echoed via `X-Request-Id` header.

string

##### Examplegenerated

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "example",
    "message": "example",
    "details": {},
    "requestId": "example"
  }
}
```

### 409

Idempotency-Key reused with a different body (`idempotency-key-body-mismatch`), or a retry of a request that succeeded: its answer carried a secret, which isn’t kept (`idempotency-key-replay-withheld`).

application/json

object

**error**

required

object

**code**

required

Stable machine-readable discriminant. Values match domain error codes (see `docs/API-ROUTE-CONVENTIONS.md` §4.3).

string

**message**

required

string

**details**

Optional, kind-specific.

object

**_key_**

additional properties

any

**requestId**

required

Server-assigned request id; also echoed via `X-Request-Id` header.

string

##### Examplegenerated

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "example",
    "message": "example",
    "details": {},
    "requestId": "example"
  }
}
```

### 413

The request body is over the API’s limit (`request-too-large`; `details.maxBytes` says how much).

application/json

object

**error**

required

object

**code**

required

Stable machine-readable discriminant. Values match domain error codes (see `docs/API-ROUTE-CONVENTIONS.md` §4.3).

string

**message**

required

string

**details**

Optional, kind-specific.

object

**_key_**

additional properties

any

**requestId**

required

Server-assigned request id; also echoed via `X-Request-Id` header.

string

##### Examplegenerated

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "example",
    "message": "example",
    "details": {},
    "requestId": "example"
  }
}
```

### 500

Server error (unmapped domain code or framework crash).

application/json

object

**error**

required

object

**code**

required

Stable machine-readable discriminant. Values match domain error codes (see `docs/API-ROUTE-CONVENTIONS.md` §4.3).

string

**message**

required

string

**details**

Optional, kind-specific.

object

**_key_**

additional properties

any

**requestId**

required

Server-assigned request id; also echoed via `X-Request-Id` header.

string

##### Examplegenerated

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "example",
    "message": "example",
    "details": {},
    "requestId": "example"
  }
}
```

### 503

The operator’s access record can’t be written, so nothing was done (`access-record-unavailable`): a request that changes something is recorded before it acts.

application/json

object

**error**

required

object

**code**

required

Stable machine-readable discriminant. Values match domain error codes (see `docs/API-ROUTE-CONVENTIONS.md` §4.3).

string

**message**

required

string

**details**

Optional, kind-specific.

object

**_key_**

additional properties

any

**requestId**

required

Server-assigned request id; also echoed via `X-Request-Id` header.

string

##### Examplegenerated

```json
{
  "error": {
    "code": "example",
    "message": "example",
    "details": {},
    "requestId": "example"
  }
}
```

## See also

- [`GET /v1/system/keys`: List system keys](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/api/operations/systemkeyslist.md)
- [`POST /v1/system/keys/{keyId}/revoke`: Revoke a system key](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/api/operations/systemkeysrevoke.md)
- [Error code `access-record-unavailable`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#access-record-unavailable)
- [Error code `idempotency-key-body-mismatch`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#idempotency-key-body-mismatch)
- [Error code `idempotency-key-replay-withheld`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#idempotency-key-replay-withheld)
- [Error code `request-too-large`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#request-too-large)
- [Error code `system-key-expiry-required`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#system-key-expiry-required)
- [Error code `system-key-scope-not-served`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#system-key-scope-not-served)
- [Error code `system-principal-required`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#system-principal-required)
- [Error code `system-scope-missing`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#system-scope-missing)
- [Error code `token-expiry-exceeds-minter`](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md#token-expiry-exceeds-minter)
- [Every error code](https://docs.kindgi.com/reference/errors.md)