# Quickstart

> Create a free Crius account, get an API key and make your first Robinhood Chain API request with cURL, JavaScript or Python in under five minutes.

Source: https://docs.crius.sh/quickstart/ · Updated 2026-10-28

1.  **Create an account.** Go to [dashboard.crius.sh](https://dashboard.crius.sh/signup), enter your email and the one-time code we send you. The free plan needs no card and includes 1,000,000 credits a month.
    
2.  **Create an API key.** In the dashboard, open **API keys** and create a key. Copy the secret straight away: it is shown once, and only a hash of it is stored. Keys look like `crs_live_AbCd1234_…`.
    
3.  **Store the key in an environment variable.** Never put it in front-end code or commit it to git.
    
    Terminal window
    
    ```bash
    export CRIUS_API_KEY="crs_live_…"
    ```
    
4.  **Make your first request.** Get the price of Charge AI (CHARGE), a token that launched on Pons and graduated to a Uniswap v4 pool:
    
    **cURL**
    
    
    
    Terminal window
    
    ```bash
    curl "https://api.crius.sh/v1/robinhood/token/0x7b8892cea949bc60d494681d1bc3ea96071ab0b8/price" \
      -H "x-api-key: $CRIUS_API_KEY"
    ```
    
    **JavaScript**
    
    
    
    ```js
    const res = await fetch(
      "https://api.crius.sh/v1/robinhood/token/0x7b8892cea949bc60d494681d1bc3ea96071ab0b8/price",
      { headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.CRIUS_API_KEY } },
    );
    const { data, meta } = await res.json();
    console.log(`${data.symbol} = $${data.usd} (block ${meta.block})`);
    ```
    
    **Python**
    
    
    
    ```python
    import os, requests
    
    
    r = requests.get(
        "https://api.crius.sh/v1/robinhood/token/0x7b8892cea949bc60d494681d1bc3ea96071ab0b8/price",
        headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["CRIUS_API_KEY"]},
    )
    body = r.json()
    print(body["data"]["symbol"], body["data"]["usd"], "at block", body["meta"]["block"])
    ```
    
5.  **Read the response.** Data is in `data`; `meta` tells you the block it was read at and how fresh it is.
    
    ```json
    {
      "data": {
        "symbol": "CHARGE",
        "token": "0x7b8892cea949bc60d494681d1bc3ea96071ab0b8",
        "usd": 0.00000576413,
        "eth": 0.0000000024199,
        "dex": "uniswap_v4",
        "liquidity_usd": 6861.07,
        "confidence": "medium",
        "thin_liquidity": false
      },
      "meta": { "chain": "robinhood", "block": 95503718, "block_age_ms": 1050, "lag_ms": 37 }
    }
    ```
    
    The response headers tell you your limits: `x-ratelimit-remaining`, `x-credits-cost` and `x-quota-remaining`.
    

## Next steps

-   Browse the [API reference](https://docs.crius.sh/reference/tokens/), or try endpoints live in the [playground](https://docs.crius.sh/playground/).
-   Draw a live chart with the [chart example](https://docs.crius.sh/examples/chart/).
-   Stream trades and new launches with the [WebSocket stream](https://docs.crius.sh/reference/stream/).
-   Learn how [credits and rate limits](https://docs.crius.sh/plans-and-limits/) work.

Keep keys server-side

An API key in a web page can be copied by anyone. For browser use, create a key restricted to your site’s origin (it becomes read-only) or proxy requests through your own backend. See [Authentication](https://docs.crius.sh/authentication/).