> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://lfgberg.gitbook.io/rainmeter/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://lfgberg.gitbook.io/rainmeter/weather/getting-an-api-key.md).

# Getting an API Key

Before we can start making or using weather skins, you need an API key. This will be used to query data from a weather service. Every user should have their own API key because there's a usage limit.

* Start by creating an account [here](https://openweathermap.org/)
* Your homepage should look something like this, click on API Keys

<div align="left"><img src="https://849448491-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M8J0Nx0l2gfeY-P6v1o%2F-M8J0WZWJ4ICJkuHcb_t%2F-M8J3dkqLKMYRRbd-nxl%2FScreenshot_1.png?alt=media&amp;token=af922439-8096-49e9-ad04-d302a57b6267" alt=""></div>

* Once on the API Keys page, take note of your default API Key, it will be used throughout the rest of the tutorials

![Censored so nobody uses up my API calls](https://849448491-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M8J0Nx0l2gfeY-P6v1o%2F-M8J0WZWJ4ICJkuHcb_t%2F-M8J600dILzhqj0Aftd1%2FScreenshot_2.png?alt=media\&token=02d61b9e-5078-4503-953f-43164f8bf1e3)