Authentication

All Airtime API requests require authentication. You can use HTTP Basic Authentication (API Key and Secret) or pass an access token in the Authorization header. Use one method per request — not both.

Authentication methods

API Key & Secret
Access Token

Authenticate using HTTP Basic Authentication.

Header	Value
`Authorization`	`Basic base64(api_key:secret_key)`
`Content-Type`	`application/json`

Username: API Key
Password: API Secret

Generate credentials from Airtime → API Setup in the Beem dashboard.

POST /v1/transfer HTTP/1.1
Host: apiairtime.beem.africa
Authorization: Basic <base64-encoded-api_key:secret_key>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "dest_addr": "255784825785",
  "amount": 500,
  "reference_id": "ref_id_215372"
}

Authenticate using a token in the Authorization header.

Header	Value
`Authorization`	`<access-token>`
`Content-Type`	`application/json`

Pass your access token directly — do not use a Bearer prefix.

POST /v1/transfer HTTP/1.1
Host: apiairtime.beem.africa
Authorization: <access-token>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "dest_addr": "255784825785",
  "amount": 500,
  "reference_id": "ref_id_215372"
}

Never expose your API Key, API Secret, or access token in frontend applications or public repositories.

Authentication errors

HTTP Status	Code	Message
`401`	`120`	Invalid Authentication Parameters
`400`	—	No authorization headers

See Response codes for the full list of error codes.

Getting Started

APIs

Authentication methods

Authentication errors

​Authentication methods

​Authentication errors

Authentication methods

Authentication errors