generated: '2026-07-18'
method: searched
source: https://chain.com/documentation/authentication
docs: https://chain.com/documentation
notes: >-
  Cross-cutting request/response semantics captured from Chain's published documentation. Grounded
  in the authentication reference; endpoint-level pagination/error-envelope shapes were not fully
  documented in a machine-readable spec at probe time and are left unasserted rather than guessed.
authentication:
  style: bearer-api-key
  header: Authorization
  key_prefixes: {live: sk_live_, sandbox: sk_sandbox_}
  ref: authentication/chain-authentication.yml
idempotency:
  supported: true
  header: X-Idempotency-Key
  scope: mutating requests
  description: Unique key supplied by the client for safe retries of write operations.
multi_tenancy:
  header: X-Business-Id
  description: Selects the business context when an account manages multiple businesses.
content_type:
  request: application/json
  response: application/json
rate_limiting:
  documented: true
  per: api-key
  published_limits:
    sandbox: 100 requests/min
    production: 1000 requests/min
  headers: not documented
versioning:
  scheme: uri-path
  current: v1
environments:
  sandbox: sk_sandbox_ keys / testing without moving real funds
  live: sk_live_ keys / moves real money
webhooks:
  documented: true
  signature_verification: true
  ref: https://chain.com/documentation/webhooks