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How to get a LIFX API token

A LIFX personal access token lets an app control your lights through the LIFX cloud API without ever seeing your password. You generate it once on the LIFX site, paste it into the app, and you're connected. Here's the whole process, plus how to keep the token safe and how to revoke it.

Generate a token (about two minutes)

1. Go to cloud.lifx.com and sign in with your LIFX account, the same login as the phone app.
2. Open the user menu in the top-right corner and choose Personal access tokens (or go straight to cloud.lifx.com/settings).
3. Click Generate new token and give it a name you'll recognise later, for example "Remote Lighting".
4. Copy the token straight away. LIFX shows it once and never again.
5. Paste it into the app you're connecting. In Remote Lighting, that's the LIFX token field on your Settings page after you sign up.

Keep it safe

• A token is a key to your lights; treat it like a password and don't share it.
• Name a separate token per app so you can tell them apart later.
• Revoke any token at any time from the same Personal access tokens page; the app it belonged to can no longer use it.

FAQ

What is a LIFX API token?

A personal access token is a key tied to your LIFX account that lets a third-party app control your lights through the LIFX HTTP (cloud) API, without you handing over your account password.

Is it safe to give an app my token?

A token grants control of your lights, not access to your account password, and you can revoke it at any time. Favour apps that store it securely and say what they do with it. Remote Lighting encrypts your token and never displays it back to you.

Where do I revoke a token?

At cloud.lifx.com, under Personal access tokens in the top-right user menu. Revoke the token and the app can no longer use it.

Do I need a token just to try an app?

Not for Remote Lighting. Its live demo runs on simulated lights with no token; you only need one to control your own bulbs.

My token stopped working, or I lost it.

Tokens are shown once, at creation. If you've lost it or it stopped working, revoke it and generate a new one, then paste the new token into the app.