---
name: satellite-ts-connector-api
title: Why isn't my API key working?
description: Resolve issues with your API key when running a Satellite Connector agent.
last-updated: 2026-08-17
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/satellite?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Why isn't my API key working?
{: #ts-connector-api}

Resolve issues with your API key when running a Satellite Connector agent.
{: shortdesc}


Your API key is not working.
{: tsSymptoms}

If your `SATELLITE_CONNECTOR_IAM_APIKEY` environment variable is set to a local path that contains your API key, verify if the following requirements are met:
{: tsResolve}

- The file must contain only a single line with your API key. Comment lines and additional lines are not supported.
- The value of the `SATELLITE_CONNECTOR_IAM_KEY` is the file path that is mounted inside your container. 
  
A common mistake is specifying the local host path to the API key file. This value must be the mounted file path inside the container, which is specified by the `-v` option on the `docker run` command. For example, suppose you have a file called `~/env-files/api-key` that contains your API key on your local file system. The `SATELLITE_CONNECTOR_API_KEY` environment variable must be set to the path that is mounted to the Docker container specified on the `-v` option to make this file available to the container. For example, if you are using the following `docker run` command:

```sh
docker run -d --env-file ~/agent/env-files/env.txt -v ~/agent/env-files:/agent-env-files icr.io/ibm/satellite-connector/satellite-connector-agent:v1.0.3
```
{: pre}
  
The local file system path `~/agent/env-files` is mounted to the container path `/agent-env-files`. Therefore, the `SATELLITE_CONNECTOR_IAM_APIKEY` environment variable value must be set to `/agent-env-files/api-key` instead of `~/agent/env-files/api-key`. For example, `SATELLITE_CONNECTOR_IAM_APIKEY=/agent-env-files/api-key`.