Authentication vs Developer keys

Overview

There are two separate authentication actions for the Lulu API:

1. Developer key
2. Lulu.com Accounts

In order to use the Lulu API, developers must have a key on the developer portal.  The key is tied to a single application, and should only be used for that application.  This allows us (and you) to track how popular your application is based on the number of requests made to the API using your key.  This key is not tied to an account on Lulu.com. By not tying a key to a particular account, developers are able to create applications that are useful for many end users, each with their own account.  Using a separate developer key enables other useful features as well.  For example, in the future, we will be able to determine how many books have been published using each application.

The second type of authentication ties calls to the API to a single end-user account.  Most of our APIs require the action to be taken within the context of a single user account, so that we can associate the resulting book to that account.  Developers will generally code their application to prompt the end user for their account details and pass those to Lulu.com on a per-session basis.