> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lancedb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# REST API Reference
> API reference for LanceDB
[Lance REST Namespace](https://lance.org/format/namespace/rest/catalog-spec/?h=rest) spec
is an OpenAPI protocol that enables reading, writing and managing Lance tables by connecting
those metadata services or building a custom metadata server in a standardized way.
LanceDB OSS allows you to interface with Lance tables via the REST Namespace.
However, LanceDB's Cloud and Enterprise products provide an extended REST API with
additional endpoints for managing projects, tables, and data.
If you have specific needs or questions about the Enterprise/Cloud REST API Namespace,
please [contact us](mailto:support@lancedb.com).
## Authentication
Cloud
Enterprise
All HTTP requests to LanceDB APIs must contain an x-api-key header that specifies a valid API key and
must be encoded as JSON or Arrow RPC.
The tutorial below demonstrates how to connect to LanceDB Cloud using the REST API.
### Get the API Key
1. Go to [LanceDB Cloud](https://accounts.lancedb.com/sign-up) and complete the onboarding.
2. Let's call this particular **Project** `embedding`.
3. Save the API key and the project instance name: `embedding-yhs6bg`.
This is how the Project looks in the LanceDB Cloud Dashboard:
4. In your terminal, check the existence of the remote **Project**. Specify the remote LanceDB **Project** `db` and `region`.
```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"vitesse-light","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
curl -X GET "https://{db}.{region}.api.lancedb.com/v1/tables" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "x-api-key: LANCEDB_API_KEY"
```
5. Now, create a **Table** to store data. Let's call it `words`.
```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"vitesse-light","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
curl -X POST "https://embedding-yhs6bg.us-east-1.api.lancedb.com/v1/tables/words" \
-H "Content-Type: application/vnd.apache.arrow.stream" \
-H "x-api-key: LANCEDB_API_KEY"
```
* the `db` is `embedding-yhs6bg`
* the `region` is `us-east-1`
* the name of the table is `words`.
6. Now check that the **Table has** been created:
```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"vitesse-light","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
curl -X GET "https://embedding-yhs6bg.us-east-1.api.lancedb.com/v1/tables" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "x-api-key: LANCEDB_API_KEY"
```
You can always check from the LanceDB Cloud Dashboard:
That's it -- you're connected! Now, you can start adding data and querying it.
You can visit the tutorial section to build your own applications with LanceDB.
Check out our tutorials on building various applications with LanceDB.