# Get started

Verify the Test Mode connection before integrating the API into your product

Canonical: https://alef-bot.top/en/developers/guides/get-started

Updated: 2026-07-13

## Before you start

- An AlefBot account on Premium or Platinum
- A Test key created in API settings. This mode checks the connection without processing real media
- An AI agent that can read the workspace and run commands, or a chat that can prepare the code

- [Create a test key](/dashboard?modal=settings&tab=public-api) — Create a Test key and keep it somewhere safe
- [API Reference](/en/developers/api-reference) — Find operations, parameters, responses and request examples

## Keep the key out of chat

> **Your API key is a secret.** Store it in the `ALEFBOT_API_KEY` environment variable. Never paste it into chat, code, a URL, logs or analytics

The overview’s prepared prompt tells the agent which specifications to read and how to use the key safely. The agent should read it from the environment without displaying it

## Run an isolated check

1. **Copy the prompt.** On the overview page, select Copy agent prompt and send it to the agent in your workspace
2. **The agent reads the API specifications.** Before changing code, the agent reads llms.txt, OpenAPI and the Arazzo workflow
3. **Run Test Mode.** The agent creates a small separate check for Upload → Transcribe → Track → Download, without processing real media
4. **Review the report.** The agent reports changed files, executed commands and observed results without displaying the key

## Confirm a successful check

- The Test workflow ended with the documented expected result
- No real media was uploaded or processed
- The key was not saved in code, printed or sent to chat
- The change remains isolated and does not yet affect the product

> **Only after success.** Ask the agent for the smallest product integration. Live mode and real media require an explicit decision and a suitable key

## Continue to technical documentation

- [API Reference](/en/developers/api-reference) — Find operations, parameters, responses and request examples
- [llms.txt](/en/developers/llms.txt) — Direct your AI agent here to find the appropriate guides and specifications

## Machine-readable sources

- [OpenAPI JSON](https://alef-bot.top/api/v1/openapi.json)

- [OpenAPI YAML](https://alef-bot.top/api/v1/openapi.yaml)

- [Arazzo workflow](https://alef-bot.top/api/v1/workflows/transcribe.arazzo.yaml)