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Get up and running with Gero Nexus in a few minutes. This guide walks you through creating an API key and making your first request.

Prerequisites

  • A Nexus account with an active plan
  • Basic knowledge of HTTP requests
  • A tool to make API calls (cURL, Postman, or code)

Step 1: Create an API Key

Programmatic access uses an API key sent in the X-Api-Key header. API keys are long-lived (they don’t expire every hour like a session token), which makes them the right credential for servers, scripts, and integrations.
  1. Sign in to the dashboard
  2. Create an API key and choose its network (e.g. Cardano Mainnet, Midnight Mainnet)
  3. Copy the key — it’s shown once and looks like nxs_uYc...
Send the key in the X-Api-Key header. Do not put it in Authorization: Bearer — that header is reserved for JWT session tokens, and an API key there returns 401 Unauthorized. (See Authentication for the difference.)

Step 2: Make Your First Request

Let’s fetch the latest block from the Cardano blockchain.

Expected Response

Success! You’ve made your first API call to Gero Nexus.

Step 3: Explore More Endpoints

Now that you’ve made your first call, try these common endpoints:

Get Block by Hash

Fetch detailed information about a specific block

Get Transaction

Retrieve transaction details and UTXOs

Get Address Info

Check balance and transactions for an address

Get Latest Epoch

Get current epoch information

Using the Interactive Playground

Want to test endpoints without writing code? Every page in the API Reference has a built-in playground:
  1. Open an endpoint in the API Reference
  2. Enter your API key in the X-Api-Key field
  3. Fill in any parameters
  4. Click “Send” to see the live response
The playground is great for exploring the API and testing different parameters before writing code.

Best Practices

  • Never commit API keys to version control
  • Store keys in environment variables or a secrets manager
  • Rotate keys from the dashboard if one is exposed
  • Scope each key to the network it needs (mainnet keys can’t query preprod)
  • Requests are bounded by a monthly quota and a per-second limit (see Rate Limits)
  • On a 429, honor the Retry-After header before retrying
  • Watch X-RateLimit-Remaining and monitor your usage in the dashboard
  • Cache responses when possible
Always check response status codes:
  • 200 - Success
  • 400 - Bad request (invalid parameters)
  • 401 - Unauthorized (missing/invalid API key, or key in the wrong header)
  • 402 - Add-on required for this endpoint
  • 404 - Resource not found
  • 429 - Rate limit exceeded
  • 500 - Server error (contact support)
See Error Handling for the full error contract.

Example: Building a Simple Balance Checker

Here’s a complete example that checks the balance of a Cardano address:

Next Steps

Authentication Guide

API keys vs. session tokens, and security best practices

API Reference

Explore all available endpoints

Rate Limits

Understand rate limiting and quotas

Error Handling

Learn how to handle API errors gracefully

Need Help?

Join Discord

Chat with our team and community

Contact Support

Email us for assistance

Congratulations! You’re now ready to build with Gero Nexus. Check out the API Reference for a full list of endpoints.