Quick Start Guide

💡 Create a project on bkend and fetch your first data from your app in just 10 minutes.

Overview

This guide walks you through the entire process from signing up to making your first REST API call.

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Full Process

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Prerequisites

• A web browser

• An AI tool installed (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) — optional if you only plan to use the REST API without MCP

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Step 1: Sign Up

1. Go to the bkend console.

2. Log in with your Google or GitHub account. Magic link login is also supported.

✅ After logging in, you will be automatically redirected to the console home screen.

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Step 2: Create an Organization

1. Click the Create Organization button in the console.

2. Enter an organization name (e.g., My Startup).

3. Click Create.

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Step 3: Create a Project

1. Click the Projects menu on the organization page.

2. Click the Create Project button.

3. Fill in the following information.

Field	Example	Description
Project Name	My Blog	Display name for the project
Project Slug	my-blog	URL identifier (can be auto-generated)
Region	Seoul (ap-northeast-2)	Data storage region
Cloud	AWS	Cloud provider

1. Click Create.

⚠️ When you create a project, a dev environment is automatically provisioned. Wait about 30 seconds until it reaches Active status.

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Step 4: Connect an AI Tool

Claude Code

Add the following to your ~/.claude.json file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bkend": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.bkend.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code and the OAuth 2.1 authentication flow will start automatically.

Cursor

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Step 5: Create Your First Table

Ask the AI tool something like this:

"Create a posts table.
- title: string (required)
- content: string (required)
- author_name: string
- published: boolean (default: false)"

Verify the created table in the Database menu of the console.

💡 The table has been created, but you need an API Key to insert data from your app. Continue to steps 6 and 7.

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Step 6: Create an API Key

You need an API Key to call the REST API from your app.

1. Click API Keys in the sidebar.

2. Under Publishable Keys, click the Add Key button.

3. Enter a name (e.g., my-app-key) and click Create.

4. The key will be displayed. Copy it and store it securely.

⚠️ This is a Publishable Key (prefixed with pk_). It is used in clients (browsers, apps) and has limited permissions. For the difference between Publishable Key and Secret Key, see Publishable Key vs Secret Key.

🚨 Warning — The key is only shown once when created. If lost, you must delete it and create a new one.

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Step 7: Create Your First Data

Use the issued Publishable Key to create data from your app.

💡 All bkend data APIs follow the /v1/data/{tableName} pattern. The posts table you created above is accessible at /v1/data/posts.

cURL

curl -X POST https://api-client.bkend.ai/v1/data/posts \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: {pk_publishable_key}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Hello bkend!",
    "content": "This is my first post.",
    "published": true
  }'

JavaScript

Response Example

{
  "id": "abc123",
  "createdAt": "2026-02-12T00:00:00.000Z"
}

Verify the created data in the console under Database > posts table.

✅ Your first project is ready, and you have created data via the REST API!

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Bonus: Add Authentication

Now that you can create data, add user authentication to track who created each record.

Step 8: Call the Signup API

const response = await fetch('https://api-client.bkend.ai/v1/auth/email/signup', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-API-Key': '{pk_publishable_key}',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    method: 'password',
    email: '[e-mail]',
    password: 'MyP@ssw0rd!',
    name: 'John Doe',
  }),
});

const { accessToken, refreshToken } = await response.json();
// Store the tokens securely

Step 9: Create Authenticated Data

When you create data with the issued accessToken, the createdBy field is automatically populated with the user ID.

const post = await fetch('https://api-client.bkend.ai/v1/data/posts', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-API-Key': '{pk_publishable_key}',
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${accessToken}`,
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    title: 'Authenticated Post',
    content: 'This post was created by a logged-in user.',
    published: true,
  }),
});

const data = await post.json();
console.log(data.createdBy); // User ID

💡 With authentication in place, you can apply RLS (Row Level Security) policies such as "only the creator can edit or delete their own data." See Writing RLS Policies.

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Troubleshooting

Error Code	Cause	Solution
401 Unauthorized	API Key is missing or incorrect	Check the Authorization header
404 Not Found	Table does not exist	Verify table creation in the console
400 Bad Request	Required field missing or type mismatch	Check the request body
403 Forbidden	Environment is not Active	Check environment status in the console

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Next Steps

• Integrating bkend in Your App — How to connect bkend to your app

• Core Concepts — Organization, Project, and Environment structure

• Console Overview — Explore the console UI

• MCP Overview — AI tool integration and MCP setup guide

• MCP Tools Overview — MCP tool reference

• Table Management — Design tables in the console

• Hands-on Project Cookbook — Build real apps from blog to shopping mall