## First request in 60 seconds. [#first-request-in-60-seconds]

<ol className="space-y-6 text-sm leading-[1.7] text-foreground-body">
  <Step n="1">
    [Create an account](/signup). Free tier, no credit card.
  </Step>

  <Step n="2">
    Open [API Keys](/dashboard/api-keys) in your dashboard and copy your key.
    It looks like `sk_live_…` (or `sk_test_…` for sandbox testing).
  </Step>

  <Step n="3">
    Set the key in your shell, then make your first request — list every competition:

    ```bash title="shell"
    export STATSHAWK_KEY="sk_live_YOUR_KEY_HERE"
    ```

    <CodeTabs>
      <CodeTab label="curl">
        ```bash title="competitions.sh"
        curl -H "X-API-Key: $STATSHAWK_KEY" \
          https://api.statshawk.ai/v1/competitions
        ```
      </CodeTab>

      <CodeTab label="python">
        ```python title="competitions.py"
        import os, requests
        r = requests.get(
            "https://api.statshawk.ai/v1/competitions",
            headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["STATSHAWK_KEY"]},
            timeout=10,
        )
        print(r.json()["data"]["items"][0])
        ```
      </CodeTab>

      <CodeTab label="node">
        ```javascript title="competitions.mjs"
        const res = await fetch("https://api.statshawk.ai/v1/competitions", {
          headers: { "X-API-Key": process.env.STATSHAWK_KEY },
        });
        const { data } = await res.json();
        console.log(data.items[0]);
        ```
      </CodeTab>
    </CodeTabs>

    Expected response (truncated):

    ```json title="response"
    {
      "data": {
        "items": [
          {
            "id": "comp_2r9wq7k3",
            "slug": "nba",
            "name": "National Basketball Association",
            "sport": "Basketball",
            "kind": "DomesticClub"
          }
        ],
        "total": 12
      },
      "meta": {
        "request_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
        "fetched_at": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "cache": "HIT",
        "version": "v1"
      }
    }
    ```
  </Step>
</ol>

<PlaygroundLink href="/docs/api">
  Run /v1/competitions live in the playground →
</PlaygroundLink>

## Next steps [#next-steps]

* [Authentication](/docs/getting-started/auth) — key format, live vs test, revocation
* [Quotas](/docs/getting-started/quotas) — what counts as a unit and plan limits
* [REST API reference](/docs/api) — every endpoint, with a try-it playground