Getting started with Indent API

Let's add approvals to a sensitive workflow in your application or internal admin tools. This quickstart will show you how to add approvals to password reset flows.

First, let's create a directory for the quickstart:

mkdir admin-tools
cd admin-tools

1. Install

This quickstart uses the JavaScript SDK:

npm install @indent/approvals

Alternatively, you can use Python or the REST API directly.

2. Get your API Key

First, you'll need an Indent space and API token which you can find here: indent.com/api-keys

Current User

Sign in to get API key

• Can take actions on your behalf
• Appears in audit log as you

Indent Space

Access Token

Note: this token is short lived and will expire soon

.env

INDENT_SPACE=
INDENT_API_TOKEN=************************************************************************************

The INDENT_SPACE is the Indent account you want to use for requests and an INDENT_API_TOKEN which is used for authentication. There are two kinds of API tokens: short-lived user access tokens and long-lived service account tokens. Read more about API authentication.

3. Add await approval

Next, let's take a simple but sensitive workflow like user password reset. This workflow will be used to request approval for a user to reset their password.

reset.js

import { approval } from '@indent/approvals'

async function resetPassword(userId, reason) {
  await approval({
    reason,
    resources: [{
      kind: 'action',
      id: `reset-password:${userId}`,
      displayName: `Reset Password (user:${userId})`
    }]
  })
  
  // by default, wait up to 10 seconds for approval
  // 95% of approvals take less than 10 seconds

  // -> do something to reset the user's password
  console.log(`done: password reset user:${userId}`)
}

resetPassword(process.env.USER, process.env.REASON)

Configure the following environment variables:

.env

INDENT_SPACE=acmecorp
INDENT_API_TOKEN=s38...65e # Copy from indent.com/api-keys

Once you run the script with node reset-password.js and you'll see the following output:

$ USER=123 REASON="to recover account" node reset-password.js

  ⏵ Requested approval #acmecorp/aec1b116-42b3-11ee-824e-42010aac000d
    ↳  Waiting for approval... (2s elapsed)
    ↳  Waiting for approval... (4s elapsed)
    ↳  Waiting for approval... (8s elapsed)
    ✅ Granted

done: password reset user:123

Here's a basic ready-to-go example on Stackblitz: https://stackblitz.com/edit/indent-api-quickstart

Remember that your API key is a secret!

Do not share it with others or expose it in any client-side code (browsers, native apps). Production requests must be routed through your own backend server where your API key can be securely loaded from an environment variable or key management service

Next steps

Congrats! You've added approvals to your application. Here are some next steps:

• await approval in JavaScript
• await approval in Python
• Add approvals to Next.js
• Add approvals to LangChain

Troubleshooting

Error: Request failed with status code 401

Double check that you've set the INDENT_API_TOKEN environment variable correctly. You can find your API token here: indent.com/api-keys

Error: Request failed with status code 403

If the error contains the text JWT_TIME_CONSTRAINT_FAILURE, this means the access token you're using has expired. You can find your API token here: indent.com/api-keys

Or use a service account token

Error: Request failed with status code 404

Double check that you've set the INDENT_SPACE environment variable correctly. You can find your space ID here: indent.com/api-keys