Manage API keys

Last update: February 7, 2025

CREATED FOR:

  • Admin

In order to minimize API security vulnerabilities, Adobe Workfront administrators can manage the API Keys used to enable applications to access Workfront on behalf of a user.

You can reset or remove your current administrator API Key, configure API Keys to expire, and remove the API Keys for all users.

Examples of applications that leverage the Workfront API are:

  • Document integrations such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Workfront DAM
  • Workfront mobile applications
IMPORTANT
When resetting or removing an API Key, any application that leverages the Workfront API and authenticates to Workfront via this API Key must be re-configured in order to regain access to Workfront.

Access requirements

Expand to view access requirements for the functionality in this article.

You must have the following access to perform the steps in this article:

Adobe Workfront planAny
Adobe Workfront licensePlan
Access level configurations

You must be a Workfront administrator.

NOTE: If you still don't have access, ask your Workfront administrator if they set additional restrictions in your access level. For information on how a Workfront administrator can modify your access level, see Create or modify custom access levels.

Workfront API Keys

Each user in Workfront has a unique API Key. This key is generated on a per-user basis at the time the user accesses an integration that leverages the Workfront API (such as the Workfront mobile app or a document integration).

NOTE
API Keys you generate in the production environment are copied to your Preview environment during the weekly refresh. Any API Keys you generate in the Preview environment will be overwritten with your production API Keys during the weekly refresh.

Workfront administrators also have a unique API Key. When an application uses an administrator API Key to access Workfront, the application has administrator access to Workfront.

Manage an administrator API key

You can generate, reset, or remove the API Key for your administrator user account.

NOTE
You can also generate an API Key through the API. For more information, see the Event Subscription API section in Event Subscription API.

  1. Click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-left corner, then click Setup Setup icon .

  2. Click System > Customer Info.

  3. (Conditional) Perform one of the following actions:

    To generate an API Key: In the API Key Settings section, click Generate API Key.

    Or
    To reset an API Key: In the API Key Settings section, click Reset, then Reset.

    Or

    To remove the API Key: In the API Key Settings section, click Remove, then Remove.

Generate an API Key for Non-Admin Users

You can generate and manage API Keys for users in roles other than Workfront administrator.

NOTE
This is not available if your organization’s Workfront instance is enabled with Adobe IMS. See your network or IT administrator if you need more information.

  1. (Conditional) If your organization uses Single Sign-On (SSO) access management, temporarily disable the option requiring SSO authentication.

  2. Click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-left corner, then click Setup Setup icon .

    1. Expand System, then click Single Sign-on (SSO).
    2. In the Type field, select the type of SSO your organization uses.
    3. With the type selected, scroll down and clear the Enable checkbox.
      Enable SSO
    4. Click Save.

  3. In the address bar of a browser, enter the following API call:

    <domain>**.my.workfront.com/attask/api/v7.0/user?action=generateApiKey&username=username&password=password&method=PUT

    Replace <domain> with your Workfront domain name, and username and password with the user’s Workfront credentials.

  4. (Conditional) Enable the option requiring SSO authentication if you disabled it in Step 1.

  5. Click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-left corner, then click Setup Setup icon .

    1. Expand System, then click Single Sign-on (SSO).

    2. Select your SSO method in the Type drop down menu.

    3. Check the checkbox requiring SSO authentication.

Configure when API keys expire

You can configure API Keys to expire for all users in your system. When the API Key of a user expires, the user must re-authenticate to any applications that use the Workfront API to access Workfront. You can change the frequency with which the API Keys expire. You can also configure whether API Keys expire when the password of a user expires.

  1. Click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-left corner, then click Setup Setup icon .

  2. Click System > Customer Info.

  3. In the API Key Settings area, in the After creation, API keys expire in drop-down list, select the timeframe when you want the API keys to expire.

    When you change this option, the new timeframe begins from the time that you made the change. For example, if you change this option from 1 month to 6 months, the API Keys expire 6 months from the time you make the change.

    By default, API Keys expire each month.

  4. To configure API Keys to expire at the time the users’ passwords expire, select Remove API key when a user’s password expire.

    By default, this option is not selected.

    For information about how to configure user passwords to expire, see Configure system security preferences.

  5. Click Save.

Remove the API keys for all users

If you are concerned about a particular security breach regarding your Workfront system, you can remove API Keys simultaneously for all users.

IMPORTANT
Removing API Keys for all users invalidates ALL of the API Keys for all the users in the system. This action will cause all of your integrations in Workfront to fail until you generate a new API Key in Workfront and update all your integrations.

  1. Click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-right corner of Adobe Workfront, or (if available), click the Main Menu icon Main Menu in the upper-left corner, then click Setup Setup icon .

  2. Expand System, then click Customer Info.

  3. In the API Key Settings area, click Remove all API keys, then click Remove All.

Restricting API logins with an X.509 certificate

IMPORTANT
The procedure described in this section applies only to organizations that have not yet been onboarded to the Adobe Business Platform. Logging in to Workfront through the Workfront API is not available if your organization has been onboarded to the Adobe Business Platform.
For a list of procedures that differ based on whether your organization has been onboarded to the Adobe Business Platform, see Platform-based administration differences (Adobe Workfront/Adobe Business Platform).

Third-party applications can communicate with Workfront through the API. To increase the security of your Workfront site, you can configure Workfront to restrict API login requests by uploading an X.509 certificate to Workfront. Once enabled, all login requests through the API must include a client certificate in addition to username and password.

NOTE
This is not available if your organization’s Workfront instance is enabled with Adobe IMS. See your network or IT administrator if you need more information.