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An API key lets the minitest CLI start runs and read results without a person signing in, which is what your CI needs. This page covers creating a key, using it in a pipeline, and revoking it.
Keys belong to the workspace and start with mtk_. Owners and admins manage them in Settings → API keys.

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Create a key

1

Open the API keys page

Go to Settings → API keys and click Create key.
2

Name it

Give the key a name you’ll recognize later, like GitHub Actions or Nightly Jenkins, up to 80 characters. Click Create key.
3

Copy it now

The dialog shows the key once. Click Copy API key, or Copy export command for a ready-to-paste export MINITEST_API_KEY=... line, and store it in your CI’s secret store. After you click Done, the full key can’t be shown again.
Create one key per place that uses it: one per CI pipeline, one for your laptop. You can then revoke one without breaking the others. A workspace can have up to 100 active keys. The list shows each key’s name, its first characters, when it was created, who created it and when it was last used. Keys don’t expire, so Last used is how you spot one nobody needs anymore.

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Use a key in CI

The CLI reads the key from the MINITEST_API_KEY environment variable. Store the key as a secret in your CI and expose it under that name:
The same works in GitLab CI, CircleCI, Jenkins, Azure Pipelines or Bitbucket Pipelines: set the variable, install the CLI, and run any command. See Run in CI for complete pipelines. On your own machine you don’t need a key: minitest auth login signs you in through the browser.
The GitHub Action needs no API key. It signs in with the workflow’s GitHub OIDC token, so the only thing to set is id-token: write in the workflow’s permissions.
Treat a key like a deploy token: never commit it, and keep it out of logs. A key from this page works for every app in the workspace.

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Revoke a key

In Settings → API keys, click the revoke button on the key’s row, then Revoke key. Anything using that key stops working right away, and this can’t be undone. To rotate a key without downtime, create the new key first, update the secret in your CI, check that a pipeline runs, then revoke the old key. The CLI can manage keys too, for scripts. It needs a signed-in session, so run it after minitest auth login:
See auth api-key in the CLI reference.

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Next steps

Run in CI

Start runs from your pipeline and act on the verdict.

CLI commands

Every minitest command and flag.

Members and roles

Who can create and revoke keys.