# Quickstart

Use this quickstart to make a first authenticated request and confirm that your integration can reach Sales Layer REST APIs.

## Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

* A Sales Layer account with REST API access.
* A valid API key.
* A tool that can send HTTPS requests, such as cURL, Postman, or an integration runtime.


## Base URL

All requests in this documentation use the current API base URL:

```text
https://api2.saleslayer.com
```

## Authentication header

Send the API key in the `X-API-KEY` header.

```http
X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY
```

Do not include API keys in browser code, public repositories, screenshots, or customer-facing logs.

## Make a first request

Start with a small DAM request to verify authentication, connectivity, and response handling.

```bash
curl -X GET 'https://api2.saleslayer.com/dam/images?$top=10' \
  -H 'X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY'
```

This request returns up to 10 image records when the API key has access to the DAM API.

## Expected result

A successful request returns an HTTP `200 OK` response with a JSON payload.

If the request fails:

| Status code | What to check first |
|  --- | --- |
| `400` | Query parameter syntax and supported values. |
| `401` | The `X-API-KEY` header is present and contains the correct key. |
| `403` | The API key is allowed to access the DAM API and the requested operation. |
| `500` | Retry only with bounded backoff and log the failure for investigation. |


## Try the Catalog API

For Catalog integrations, use metadata before building dynamic requests.

```bash
curl -X GET 'https://api2.saleslayer.com/catalog/$metadata' \
  -H 'X-API-KEY: YOUR_API_KEY'
```

Metadata responses help integrations understand available fields, resource structures, and relationships before requesting or writing catalog data.

## Related pages

* [Authentication](/guides/authentication)
* [Headers](/guides/headers)
* [Base URL](/guides/base-url)
* [Recipes](/guides/recipes)
* [API reference overview](/apis)