# Authentication

*How to authenticate your API requests*

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## Overview

The zipmend API uses JSON Web Tokens (JWT) to securely identify and authorize users. To get started, first obtain a token from our authentication endpoint. Once you have your token, include it in the `Authorization` header of your API requests.

cURL
Authorization: Bearer {JWT_TOKEN}
All endpoints that require authentication will return a **401 Unauthorized** status code and the following response if a valid token is not provided:

JSON
{
    "message": "Unauthenticated!"
}