> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://partner.ninjatrader.com/eval/overview/quick-setup/5-minute-quickstart/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://partner.ninjatrader.com/_mcp/server.

# 5-Minute Quickstart

Get up and running with the NinjaTrader Partner API in just a few minutes. This guide walks you through making your first API call and accessing live market data.

## Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

* **Partner Account Access to Dashboards** (Request from an Evaluation Support representative if needed)
* **API Credentials** (API Key and Secret, created in Dashboards)
* **Development Environment** (Node.js, Python, or preferred language)
* **HTTP Client** (curl, Postman, or programming language HTTP library)

## Step 1: Obtain API Credentials

Once approved, you'll receive your API credentials. This should consist of a username and password. Once you have your credentials:

1. Log on to Dashboards ([staging](https://dashboards.staging.ninjatrader.dev) [prod](https://dashboards.tradovate.com)).
2. Navigate to Eval Functions from the side bar
3. Click the API Entitlement tab at the top of the page.
4. Create a new API key.
5. Copy the ID and client secret when presented.

Now we have everything we need to create an `/auth/accesstokenrequest` payload:

```json
{
  "name": "<YOUR_USERNAME>",
  "password": "<YOUR_PASSWORD>", //or API dedicated password
  "appId": "<API_KEY_NAME>",
  "appVersion": "1.0.0",
  "cid": 1234, // use your API key ID presented when key is created
  "sec": "<YOUR_API_SECRET>" // use the secret presented when key is created
}
```

> **Warning:** Keep your API credentials secure! Never commit them to version control or expose them in client-side code.

## Step 2: Authenticate

Now that we have our payload, we can get an access token from the system:

```typescript
const YOUR_CREDENTIALS = {
  name: "<YOUR_USERNAME>",
  password: "<YOUR_PASSWORD>", //or API dedicated password
  appId: "<API_KEY_NAME>",
  appVersion: "1.0.0",
  cid: 1234,                // use your API key ID presented when key is created
  sec: "<YOUR_API_SECRET>"  // use the secret presented when key is created
}

const response = await fetch('https://live.tradovateapi.com/v1/auth/accesstokenrequest', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify(YOUR_CREDENTIALS)
});

const { accessToken } = await response.json();
console.log('Access token:', accessToken);
```

```python
import requests

your_credentials = json.dumps({
  'name': '<YOUR_USERNAME>',
  'password': '<YOUR_PASSWORD>', # or API dedicated password
  'appId': '<API_KEY_NAME>',
  'appVersion': '1.0.0',
  'cid': 1234, # use your API key ID presented when key is created
  'sec': '<YOUR_API_SECRET>' # use the secret presented when key is created
})

response = requests.post(
    'https://live.tradovateapi.com/v1/auth/accesstokenrequest',
    json=your_credentials
)

access_token = response.json()['accessToken']
print(f'Access token: {access_token}')
```

```cURL
curl -X POST https://live.tradovateapi.com/v1/auth/accesstokenrequest \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "your_username",
    "password": "your_password",
    "appId": "your_api_key",
    "environment": "demo"
  }'
```

## Step 3: Make Your First API Call

Now use your access token to fetch your user profile:

```typescript
const userResponse = await fetch('https://live.tradovateapi.com/v1/auth/me', {
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  }
});

const user = await userResponse.json();
console.log('Current user:', user);
```

```python
headers = {
    'Authorization': f'Bearer {access_token}',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

user_response = requests.get(
    'https://live.tradovateapi.com/v1/auth/me',
    headers=headers
)

user = user_response.json()
print(f'Current user: {user}')
```

Congratulations! You've successfully:

✅ Authenticated with the NinjaTrader API\
✅ Retrieved your user profile

As a next step, we suggest you take a look at the endpoints in the [API Reference](/api/rest-api-endpoints/authentication/access-token-request) section, and begin perusing the

[Partner Operations](/eval/overview/prop-firm-management/create-and-manage-users-and-accounts)

portion of this guide.