---
title: "Initiate CLI Authentication"
description: "Create a new CLI authentication session and return polling and login codes."
api: "POST /api/v1/auth/cli"
---

## Request

<ParamField header="x-stack-secret-server-key" type="string" required>
  The secret server key for authentication.
</ParamField>

<ParamField header="x-stack-project-id" type="string" required>
  The project ID.
</ParamField>

## Response

<ResponseField name="polling_code" type="string">
  The code used to poll for the authentication status. This should be used with the poll endpoint.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="login_code" type="string">
  The code presented to the user for completing authentication in a browser.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="expires_at" type="string">
  ISO 8601 timestamp of when the authentication session expires.
</ResponseField>

<CodeGroup>
```bash cURL
curl -X POST 'https://api.stack-auth.com/api/v1/auth/cli' \
  -H 'x-stack-secret-server-key: YOUR_SECRET_SERVER_KEY' \
  -H 'x-stack-project-id: YOUR_PROJECT_ID'
```

```json 200 Response
{
  "polling_code": "poll_abc123def456",
  "login_code": "ABCD-1234",
  "expires_at": "2024-01-01T00:15:00Z"
}
```
</CodeGroup>