Using the REST API directly

4 min read Updated October 21, 2026

Calling the API directly

This is how every example in the docs works today: the Node.js and Python SDKs are source previews that are not yet published, and there is no Go SDK. Any HTTP client will do.

Authentication

The simplest way is your API key in the x-api-key header (cg_sk_ keys on sandbox.api.compliancegrid.ai, cg_pk_ keys on api.compliancegrid.ai). You can also exchange client credentials for a Bearer token:

bash

# Option 1: API key
curl -H "x-api-key: $CG_API_KEY" "https://sandbox.api.compliancegrid.ai/v1/hs/search?q=laptop"

# Option 2: OAuth client credentials
export CG_TOKEN=$(curl -s -X POST https://sandbox.api.compliancegrid.ai/oauth/token \
  -d "grant_type=client_credentials" \
  -d "client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID" \
  -d "client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET" | jq -r '.access_token')
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $CG_TOKEN" "https://sandbox.api.compliancegrid.ai/v1/hs/search?q=laptop"

POST requests

bash

curl -X POST https://sandbox.api.compliancegrid.ai/v1/compliance/restricted-party-screening \
  -H "x-api-key: $CG_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"parties": [{"name": "Test Corp", "country": "US"}]}'

Response format

Successful responses are { "success": true, "data": ..., "meta": ... }. Errors are { "success": false, "error": { "code", "message", "details" } }, except authentication and rate-limit errors, which are the short form { "error": "invalid_api_key", "message": ... }. See the Errors page for every code.

Common headers

Header	Direction	Description
`x-api-key`	Request	Your API key
`Content-Type`	Request	`application/json` for POST
`X-RateLimit-Limit`, `X-RateLimit-Remaining`, `X-RateLimit-Reset`	Response	The tightest rate-limit window
`Retry-After`	Response	Seconds to wait (429 only)
`X-Data-Provenance`	Response	Where the data comes from: live, database, computed or seed
`X-Compliance-Grid-Request-Id`	Response	Quote this when you contact support

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