> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.traversal.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> Introduction to the Traversal API — base URL, authentication, and error handling.

The Traversal API lets you integrate investigations into your own tools, pipelines, and workflows. Anything a member can do in the Traversal web app, you can do over the API.

To get started, [create an API key](/api/authentication) and make your first request.

## Base URL

All endpoints are served from:

```
https://api.traversal.com
```

<Note>
  BYOC customers use the API endpoint exposed by their dedicated deployment instead — see [Bring Your Own Cloud](/architecture/byoc) for details.
</Note>

## Error format

All errors follow a consistent envelope:

```json theme={null}
{
  "error": {
    "message": "A human-readable explanation of the error.",
    "retry_after": 30
  }
}
```

| Field               | Type              | Description                                                                      |
| ------------------- | ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `error.message`     | `string`          | Human-readable explanation of the error.                                         |
| `error.retry_after` | `integer \| null` | Suggested seconds to wait before retrying. Present on `429` and `409` responses. |

When `retry_after` is present in the body, the response also includes a standard `Retry-After` HTTP header with the same value.

### Status codes

| Status code | Meaning               | When it occurs                                                                                        |
| ----------- | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `400`       | Bad Request           | Invalid or missing fields in the request body. The `message` indicates which field failed validation. |
| `401`       | Unauthorized          | Missing, invalid, or revoked API key.                                                                 |
| `403`       | Forbidden             | API not enabled for the organization, or the authenticated user has insufficient role.                |
| `500`       | Internal Server Error | An unexpected error occurred on the server.                                                           |
| `503`       | Service Unavailable   | API infrastructure is not available.                                                                  |

Individual endpoints may define additional status codes specific to their behavior — see the relevant API reference page for details.