xAI Grok API Authentication Skill

xAI Grok API Authentication

Complete guide for setting up and managing xAI API authentication for Grok models with Twitter/X integration.

Quick Start

1. Get API Key

Go to console.x.ai
Sign in with your X (Twitter) account
Navigate to "API Keys" section
Click "Create API Key"
Copy and save the key (starts with xai-)

2. Set Environment Variable

# Add to .bashrc, .zshrc, or .env
export XAI_API_KEY="xai-your-key-here"

3. Test Connection

curl https://api.x.ai/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY"

Authentication Methods

Method 1: Environment Variable (Recommended)

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"
)

Method 2: Direct Key

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="xai-your-key-here",
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"
)

Method 3: Using xai-sdk

from xai_sdk import Client

client = Client(api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"))

API Compatibility

xAI API is fully compatible with OpenAI SDK:

# Just change base_url - everything else works the same
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"  # Only difference
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="grok-3-fast",  # Use Grok models
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

Free Credits

$150/Month Free Credits

Go to console.x.ai
Navigate to Settings → Data Sharing
Enable data sharing opt-in
Receive $150/month in API credits

Credit Usage

| Action | Cost | |--------|------| | Grok 4.1 Fast (input) | $0.20/1M tokens | | Grok 4.1 Fast (output) | $0.50/1M tokens | | X Search / Web Search | $5/1,000 calls | | Code Execution | $5/1,000 calls |

Configuration File

Create .env.xai:

# xAI API Configuration
XAI_API_KEY=xai-your-key-here
XAI_BASE_URL=https://api.x.ai/v1
XAI_DEFAULT_MODEL=grok-3-fast

Error Handling

Common Errors

| Error | Cause | Solution | |-------|-------|----------| | no credits | No credits on account | Add credits or enable free tier | | invalid_api_key | Wrong or expired key | Generate new key at console.x.ai | | rate_limit_exceeded | Too many requests | Implement backoff, reduce frequency | | model_not_found | Invalid model name | Check available models |

Python Error Handling

from openai import OpenAI, APIError, RateLimitError

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1"
)

try:
    response = client.chat.completions.create(
        model="grok-3-fast",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
    )
except RateLimitError:
    print("Rate limit hit, waiting...")
    time.sleep(60)
except APIError as e:
    print(f"API error: {e}")

Security Best Practices

Never commit API keys to git
Use environment variables instead of hardcoding
Rotate keys regularly via console.x.ai
Use separate keys for dev/prod environments
Add to .gitignore:
```
.env
.env.*
**/secrets.*
```

Rate Limits

| Model | Requests/Min | Tokens/Min | |-------|--------------|------------| | Grok 4.1 Fast | 60 | 100,000 | | Grok 4 | 30 | 50,000 | | Grok 3 Mini | 100 | 200,000 |

Endpoints

| Endpoint | Description | |----------|-------------| | https://api.x.ai/v1/chat/completions | Chat completions | | https://api.x.ai/v1/models | List available models | | https://api.x.ai/v1/responses | Agent Tools API |

Related Skills

xai-models - Model selection guide
xai-x-search - Twitter/X search
xai-sentiment - Sentiment analysis

Agent Skills: xAI Grok API Authentication

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