Authentication

By default, Cube API Server allows all requests without any authentication. To enable authentication, start the server with an auth callback URL. When configured, every incoming request is validated by forwarding the credential header to your callback service — Cube API Server acts purely as a passthrough proxy for the auth decision.

Enabling Authentication

Pass --auth-callback-url at startup, or set the equivalent environment variable:

# CLI flag
./cube-api --auth-callback-url https://your-auth-service/verify

# Or via environment variable
export AUTH_CALLBACK_URL=https://your-auth-service/verify
./cube-api

When AUTH_CALLBACK_URL is not set (the default), all requests are allowed without any credential check.

How It Works

When a request arrives, Cube API Server:

1. Extracts the credential from the request header (Authorization: Bearer takes priority over X-API-Key).
2. Forwards a POST request to the callback URL with the credential header and the original request path.
3. If the callback returns HTTP 200, the request is allowed through.
4. Any other status code causes the request to be rejected with HTTP 401 Unauthorized.

Client ──→ Cube API Server
                │
                ├─ extract credential (Bearer / API Key)
                │
                └─ POST → your auth service
                                │
                       200 ─────┤──→ allow request
                    non-200 ────┘──→ 401 Unauthorized

Sending Credentials from the SDK

The E2B SDK passes the value of E2B_API_KEY as Authorization: Bearer <key> on every request.

export E2B_API_KEY=your-actual-api-key

You can also send X-API-Key directly if your integration does not use the E2B SDK:

X-API-Key: your-actual-api-key

Both formats are accepted. Authorization: Bearer takes priority if both are present.

Callback Request Format

Cube API Server sends a POST to your callback URL with the following headers:

Header	Value
Authorization	Bearer <token> — present when the client used Bearer auth
X-API-Key	<key> — present when the client used API Key auth
X-Request-Path	The original request path (e.g. /v1/sandboxes)

The two credential headers are mutually exclusive. Your callback receives whichever one the client sent.

Example callback (Python/FastAPI)

from fastapi import FastAPI, Request

app = FastAPI()

VALID_KEYS = {"secret-key-1", "secret-key-2"}

@app.post("/verify")
async def verify(request: Request):
    # Bearer token
    auth = request.headers.get("Authorization", "")
    if auth.startswith("Bearer "):
        token = auth.removeprefix("Bearer ").strip()
        if token in VALID_KEYS:
            return {}           # 200 → allow
        return Response(status_code=403)

    # API Key
    key = request.headers.get("X-API-Key", "")
    if key in VALID_KEYS:
        return {}               # 200 → allow

    return Response(status_code=401)

Error Responses

Scenario	HTTP Status
No credential provided	401 Unauthorized
Callback returned non-200	401 Unauthorized
Callback unreachable	500 Internal Server Error