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

# Prerequisites

> Account and authentication requirements for the Contacts API.

Before you begin, ensure you have:

* A Beem account
* Contacts API credentials (API Key and Secret) or an access token

***

## Authentication

All Contacts API requests require authentication using either:

* **HTTP Basic Authentication** — API Key as username, API Secret as password
* **Access token** — passed directly in the `Authorization` header (no `Bearer` prefix)

See [Authentication](/guides/contact/authentication) for details and examples.