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This guide walks you through creating an account, funding it, and running your first Lit Action. You can do everything from the Dashboard (web GUI) or directly against the REST API.

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Zero to Lit Action

  1. Create an account via the Dashboard, note down your API key. Account creation takes ~15 seconds — it registers your account on-chain (Base).
  2. Add funds — click Add Funds in the Dashboard (minimum $5.00) and pay with a credit card, crypto (ETH, USDC, SOL and more), or LITKEY. Running Lit Actions and metered/write management operations consume credits, while read-only management calls (for example listing resources or checking your balance) are free. Unfunded metered calls return 402 Payment Required — see Errors.
  3. Add a usage API key — set its permissions by clicking All Options
  4. Run a Lit Action
    1. From the Dashboard
    2. Programmatically via cURL/JavaScript
    3. or build your own SDK from the OpenAPI spec

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Using the Dashboard

The Dashboard is a web management GUI for Lit. It supports light/dark themes and provides simple tools for managing accounts, keys, wallets, and actions. Recommended workflow:
  1. Request a new account (or log in)
  2. Add funds via credit card
  3. Request usage API keys
  4. Request new PKPs (wallets)
  5. Register IPFS CIDs (actions)
  6. Create groups
  7. Run lit-actions
For step-by-step instructions with screenshots, see Using the Dashboard.

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Using the API directly

The same workflows are available via the REST API under /core/v1/. All authenticated endpoints expect the API key in a header (X-Api-Key or Authorization: Bearer). Workflow:
  1. New account or verify account (login)
  2. Add funds — card, crypto, or the billing API
  3. Add usage API key
  4. Create wallet (PKP)
  5. Add group and register IPFS action
  6. Add PKP to group (optional)
  7. Run lit-action
For full code examples (JavaScript Core SDK and cURL), see the API Reference.

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Daily Usage

The Dashboard is just your human-friendly configuration tool. Once your account and keys are set up, you can call the lit-action endpoint with your usage key every time you, your dApp, or a cron job needs to execute an action:
  1. Call the API with your usage key, action code (or IPFS CID), and any parameters you need.

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Next steps