# Quick Start

{% hint style="info" %}
**Good to know:** A quick start guide can be good to help folks get up and running with your API in a few steps. Some people prefer diving in with the basics rather than meticulously reading every page of documentation!
{% endhint %}

## Get your API keys

Your API requests are authenticated using API keys. Any request that doesn't include an API key will return an error.

You can get an API key from your Settings.

<figure><img src="https://1071456698-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2tt1HFPYu3MFeBO1zix4%2Fuploads%2FcoUZ0AiO07D2AajEcPzA%2Fapi_key.png?alt=media&#x26;token=f619dd08-4709-4e58-b3e2-e4bc4744e8fe" alt=""><figcaption><p>QIKCHAT API KEY</p></figcaption></figure>

## Make your first request

To make your first request, send an authenticated request to the messages endpoint. This will send a `text` message to the user.

## Send a text message

<mark style="color:green;">`POST`</mark> `https://api.qikchat.in/v1/messages`

To send a message, use the request URL and the following body parameters.

**Request Example**

`{`

&#x20;   `"to_contact": "8080808080",`

&#x20;   `"type": "text",`

&#x20;   `"text": {`

&#x20;       `"body": "Hey There!"`

&#x20;   `}`

`}`

#### Headers

| Name                                              | Type   | Description   |
| ------------------------------------------------- | ------ | ------------- |
| QIKCHAT-API-KEY<mark style="color:red;">\*</mark> | string | place API key |

#### Request Body

| Name                                          | Type   | Description                                       |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------- |
| to\_contact<mark style="color:red;">\*</mark> | string | customer whatsapp number you want to send message |
| type<mark style="color:red;">\*</mark>        | string | text                                              |
| text<mark style="color:red;">\*</mark>        | object | contains body field                               |

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{% tab title="200: OK " %}
A successful response includes a data object with an ID for the message sent.

```json
{
    "status": true,
    "message": "Messages queued successfully",
    "data": [
        {
            "id": "52JH6WmuSruAVyXvBBYemd0Ia",
            "channel": "whatsapp",
            "from": "919099999916",
            "recipient": "918080808080",
            "credits": 0.80,
            "created_at": "2023-02-19T12:52:25.222Z",
            "status": "queued"
        }
    ]
}
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}