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Ory Talos

Ory Talos is an API key management service. It handles the full lifecycle of API credentials: issuing keys, verifying them, deriving short-lived tokens (JWT and macaroon), and revoking access.

Ory Talos exposes two HTTP surfaces. The admin API (/v2alpha1/admin/*) covers issue, import, rotate, revoke, derive, and verify. It has no built-in authentication, so put it behind a network boundary or an authenticating proxy. The public API (POST /v2alpha1/apiKeys:selfRevoke) validates proof of possession inline and is safe to expose publicly. In production, run them as two processes. See Separate admin and public APIs.

Choose your path​

Integrate Ory Talos into your application​

Building an application that needs API key authentication? Start here:

  • Quickstart — issue and verify your first API key in five minutes
  • Integration guide — API walkthrough for issuing, verifying, importing keys, and deriving tokens
  • Error handling — error codes and retry strategies

Run Ory Talos in production​

Deploying and operating Ory Talos? Start here:

  • Install — install with Homebrew or Scoop, pull the Docker image, or download a binary
  • Configure — configuration file, environment variables, and hot-reload behavior
  • Deploy — Docker, binary, and split admin and public API topologies
  • Monitor — Prometheus metrics, OpenTelemetry tracing, and health endpoints

Editions​

Ory Talos OSS (Apache 2.0) runs on a single node with a SQLite backend. It includes the full key lifecycle, token derivation, and CLI.

Ory Talos Commercial adds multi-tenancy, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and CockroachDB backends, in-memory and Redis caching, rate-limit enforcement, and edge proxy nodes. Pages that cover commercial-only features are marked with a "Commercial" badge.

Web console​

Ory Talos has no built-in web UI. Manage API keys with the admin API or the CLI. For a web console, use the Ory Console:

  • On the Ory Network, the Ory Console is available for Ory Talos.
  • To use the Ory Console with a self-hosted deployment, contact us.

Learn more​

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