API key
How to find your WordPress API key
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 | WordPress, blogging, how to | No Comments
I recently migrated a blog from being a free WordPress blog to being a self-hosted blog.
Today, I noticed that my WordPress.com Stats plugin wasn’t working and my dashboard was sporting a shiny new warning about needing an API key to activate the plugin.
I immediately turned to WordPress.com – unfortunately, the information regarding API keys has not been updated to include where to find it using the new dashboard for WordPress Version 2.7.
So, to save other WordPress users the frustration, I wrote these instructions based on the new dashboard:
How to find your API key
- Log in to your WordPress account.
- Click Users > Your Profile.
Your API key is at the top of the screen:
You can copy the API key from there and paste it into any field where it is required.
In my case, the API key wasn’t there when I looked, and after frantically searching Google I discovered the issue: I migrated my free WordPress blog (http://myblog.wordpress.com) to a hosted account (www.myblog.ca) – so my API key was still associated with my free WordPress blog.
And here’s the really important part: the API key that was assigned to your free blog is the API key you will use for all of your WordPress blogs – hosted or not – if you want to activate plugins requiring an API key.
Retreiving an API key from a free WordPress blog
- Login to your free WordPress account.
- Click Users > Your Profile.
- Copy the API key.
- Paste the API key into the field where it is required on your hosted WordPress blog.
- Follow any remaining instructions laid out by the plugin or enhancement.
Your API key is at the top of the screen.
I found two great blog posts over at WordPress Max that go into even more detail than this post:
An API key is a useful thing to have to take full advantage of all the plugins and enhancements that WordPress offers – and there is a lot of great stuff!
Special thanks to WordPress Max for making API keys clearer!