> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mindsdb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Authentication

MindsDB provides an optional authentication mechanism for its HTTP API. This includes setting up a username and a password for the MindsDB instance. Learn [more here](/setup/custom-config#auth).

If this authentication method is defined in the MindsDB configuration file, it is required to authenticate oneself when using the REST API endpoints of this MindsDB instance.

**Here is how to authenticate an HTTP session for calling MindsDB REST APIs.**

1. Call the `login` endpoint with the username and password parameters.

   ```
   curl --request POST --url 'http://127.0.0.1:47334/api/login' \
       --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
       --data-raw '{"username":"your-username","password":"your-password"}' -v
   ```

   This command returns an HTTP status code 200 if the request is successful, along with a token in the response body.

2. Call any other endpoint providing the token.

   ```
   curl --request GET \
   --url http://127.0.0.1:47334/api/projects/mindsdb/... \
   --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
   --header 'Authorization: Bearer pat_your_mindsdb_token_here' \
   --data '{
   ...
   }'
   ```

   For example, query an agent under the authenticated session:

   ```
   curl --request POST \
   --url http://127.0.0.1:47334/api/projects/mindsdb/agents/my_agent/completions/stream \
   --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
   --header 'Authorization: Bearer pat_your_mindsdb_token_here' \
   --data '{
   "messages": [
       {
       "question": "What is MindsDB?",
       "answer": ""
       }
   ]
   }'
   ```