---
operationId: "createCredential"
method: "POST"
path: "/projects/{project_id}/branches/{branch_id}/credentials"
tag: "credentials"
stability: "beta"
interfaces: ["api", "sdk"]
---
> API Reference / Credentials / Issue a scoped credential on the branch

## POST /projects/{project_id}/branches/{branch_id}/credentials

Issues a new scoped service credential anchored to the specified
branch. The response carries `api_token` and `s3_secret_access_key`
exactly once — they are not stored server-side.

**Note**: This endpoint is currently in Private Beta.


### Parameters

- `project_id` (string, path, required)
  The Neon project ID
- `branch_id` (string, path, required)
  The Neon branch ID

### Request body

- `name` (string, optional)
  Free-form customer label for the credential.
- `scopes` (array, required)
- `principal_type` (string, required)
  Principal type for the credential. Only `user` is customer-managed
  and accepted here. `function` and `system` credentials are
  platform-internal (e.g. function-serve auto-mint, presign signer)
  and are never issued through the customer-facing API.
  
  Possible values: `user`

### Response (201)

- `token_id` (string, optional)
  Opaque credential id (e.g. nak_live_<32hex>).
- `token_id_short` (string, optional)
  First 12 hex chars of token_id; safe to log.
- `name` (string, optional)
  Customer-supplied label, echoed back from the request. Absent when not provided.
- `api_token` (string, optional)
  Bearer token; returned exactly once.
- `s3_secret_access_key` (string, optional)
  nsk_live_<64 hex>; the AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, returned exactly once.
- `scopes` (array, optional)
- `branch_id` (string, optional)
- `created_at` (string, optional, format: date-time)
- `expires_at` (string, optional, format: date-time)
  When the credential expires; absent means never expires.
  

### Code examples

```bash
curl "https://console.neon.tech/api/v2/projects/$PROJECT_ID/branches/$BRANCH_ID/credentials" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEON_API_KEY"
```

```typescript
import { createNeonClient, raw } from '@neon/sdk';

const neon = createNeonClient({ apiKey: process.env.NEON_API_KEY });
const { data } = await raw.createCredential({
  client: neon.client,
  path: {
    project_id: process.env.PROJECT_ID,
    branch_id: process.env.BRANCH_ID
  }
});
```

### Errors

**default**
General Error.

The request may or may not be safe to retry, depending on the HTTP method, response status code,
and whether a response was received.

- If no response is returned from the API, a network error or timeout likely occurred.
- In some cases, the request may have reached the server and been successfully processed, but the response failed to reach the client. As a result, retrying non-idempotent requests can lead to unintended results.

The following HTTP methods are considered non-idempotent: `POST`, `PATCH`, `DELETE`, and `PUT`. Retrying these methods is generally **not safe**.
The following methods are considered idempotent: `GET`, `HEAD`, and `OPTIONS`. Retrying these methods is **safe** in the event of a network error or timeout.

Any request that returns a `503 Service Unavailable` response is always safe to retry.

Any request that returns a `423 Locked` response is safe to retry. `423 Locked` indicates that the resource is temporarily locked, for example, due to another operation in progress.

- `request_id` (string, optional)
  Unique identifier for the request, useful for debugging.
  You can set this value manually by including an `X-Request-ID` header in the request. If not provided, the value will be generated automatically.
  
- `code` (string, required)
  Default: ``
- `message` (string, required)
  Error message