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

# Read a board from a script in five minutes

> Make an API credential, call the Tylon API with it, and read a board. Covers the one moment the secret is readable and how to choose a board.

By the end of this you will have a credential and a board on your screen, read by `curl` rather than by a browser.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Make a credential">
    Open **Settings → API credentials**. You need to run the organization — the same role that reads the audit record.

    Give it a name you will recognise in six months (`the deploy script`, not `test`), tick the boards it should reach, and pick a role on each. The roles offered stop at what you hold on that board: you cannot give away more than you have.

    <Warning>
      The secret appears once, on the screen that makes it, and there is no endpoint that answers with it again. Have somewhere to put it before you press the button.
    </Warning>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check it works, and learn your board ids">
    ```bash theme={null}
    curl https://api.tylon.app/v1/me \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $TYLON_SECRET"
    ```

    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "clientId": "tyl_id_1yIrdcxW_gkz8XBY",
      "name": "the deploy script",
      "scopes": ["read"],
      "boards": [
        {
          "workspaceId": "84415731592203229",
          "organizationId": "84415731491539931",
          "role": "viewer"
        }
      ],
      "answering": null
    }
    ```

    This is also the listing: `boards` is exactly the set of ids the next call will accept. It is the one endpoint that never asks you to choose.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read a board">
    ```bash theme={null}
    curl https://api.tylon.app/v1/board \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $TYLON_SECRET" \
      -H "X-Tylon-Workspace: 84415731592203229"
    ```

    If the credential reaches exactly one board, the header is optional. If it reaches several and you leave it out, the API says so and lists the ids rather than guessing.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Next

<Card title="Credentials and rotation" icon="key" href="/api-reference/authentication">
  Two secrets alive at once, and why that is the point.
</Card>

<Card title="Every endpoint" icon="list" href="/api-reference/endpoints/board">
  The board, the cards, the releases, the inbox.
</Card>