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Create an API key

Create an account, verify your email and generate a key under API Keys in the dashboard. It is shown once. Store COTIZAVE_API_KEY in your private server configuration without extra quotes or whitespace. Exclude secret files from Git. Keep the key out of browser JavaScript and applications distributed to users. These examples do not contain a valid credential.

Set up your server client

Save the first example as cotizave.mjs (Node.js 20 or later), or the second as cotizave.py (Python 3.10 or later with requests installed). Other pages import these files. Both check HTTP status, set timeouts and reject redirects. Neither retries automatically.
The requests timeout limits connection and read inactivity; it is not a total execution deadline. If your application has an overall deadline, enforce it in the calling layer too. For curl, configure the key without whitespace and do not add --location. Run these examples on your server. JavaScript and Python use the clients in the quickstart; configure COTIZAVE_API_KEY there.

Read the response

Illustrative response: figures and dates are not current quotes.
mid is VES per USD for reference. eur_reference is VES per EUR. updated_at is the update timestamp and effective_date is the BCV value date. They are not interchangeable. A value date can remain applicable over several non-business days.

Connect your application

Your backend calls Cotizave and exposes its own endpoint with the fields your UI needs. The browser calls that endpoint without receiving the API key. For repeated use, share a cache across users and decide how long older data is acceptable. Read quotas and limits before scheduling refreshes.

Next steps

Read about authentication, conversion, history and webhooks.

Errors and freshness

Do not retry parameter, credential or plan errors. For 429, distinguish burst from monthly and honour the headers. Bound GET retries for transient failures; do not automatically repeat a POST with an uncertain outcome. A successful HTTP response does not guarantee every source is recent.

Troubleshooting

The common errors for authentication, quota and availability also apply. API error responses are JSON; branch on code, not on the text of message.