---
title: "Call the API and read its responses"
url: "https://lookvalid.com/help/api/use-the-api.md"
canonical_url: "https://lookvalid.com/help/api/use-the-api"
last_updated: "2026-10-22"
type: "how-to"
summary: "Base URL, authentication, the response envelope, rate limits and error handling in one page."
related: ["https://lookvalid.com/docs/quickstart.md", "https://lookvalid.com/docs/api.md", "https://lookvalid.com/docs/errors.md", "https://lookvalid.com/docs/mcp.md"]
---

# Call the API and read its responses

Base URL, authentication, the response envelope, rate limits and error handling in one page.

## The basics

- Base URL: `https://YOUR_API_HOST`.
- Every lookup is `POST /v1/<product>` with a JSON body.
- Send your key as `Authorization: Bearer <key>`.
- Limit: 200 requests per 10 seconds per key.

## A first request

Check an IP address

```bash
curl -X POST https://YOUR_API_HOST/v1/ip \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LOOKVALID_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"ip":"8.8.8.8"}'
```

## Reading the response

Every response carries `found`, `data`, `sources`, `credits_charged`, `credits_remaining` and `cache_hit`. On failure the body is an error envelope with a `code` and a `fix` hint; branch on `code`.

## More

The [API reference](https://lookvalid.com/docs/api.md) has one page per endpoint, and [errors](https://lookvalid.com/docs/errors.md) lists every code.

## Related

- [Quickstart](https://lookvalid.com/docs/quickstart.md)
- [API reference](https://lookvalid.com/docs/api.md)
- [Errors](https://lookvalid.com/docs/errors.md)
- [MCP server](https://lookvalid.com/docs/mcp.md)