# How to get a Flickr API key URL: https://my-flickr-assistant.monier.tv/guides/get-a-flickr-api-key Last updated: 2026-09-19 A Flickr API key is issued by Flickr, free of charge, from the App Garden at flickr.com/services/apps/create. You need a Flickr Pro account to create one, the process takes about five minutes, and you get two values back: a key and a secret. Any third-party app that talks to Flickr on your behalf, including Photo Stream Assistant, needs both. ## Steps ### 1. Sign in to Flickr with a Pro account Flickr issues API keys only to Pro accounts. A Free account can still use the API through someone else's key, but cannot create one. Sign in on flickr.com before you start, or the App Garden will send you to the login page half way through. ### 2. Open the App Garden and request a key Go to flickr.com/services/apps/create and choose Request an API Key. Flickr asks whether the use is commercial or non-commercial. For your own photos in your own app, choose non-commercial: it is granted immediately, where a commercial key goes through a review. ### 3. Name the app and describe what it does The name and description are for you and for Flickr, not for anyone else. Something like "Photo Stream Assistant on my Mac" is enough. Tick the two boxes that say you have read the terms, then Submit. ### 4. Copy the key and the secret Flickr shows both on the next page. The key is public in practice, since it travels in every request. The secret is what signs requests as coming from your app, so treat it like a password: store it only where the app asks for it. ### 5. Set the app type to Desktop Application Open the app's settings page in the App Garden, find the Authentication Flow section, and set App Type to Desktop Application. Without this, the sign-in step of a desktop app fails with an error about a missing callback URL, which reads as a bug in the app when it is a setting in Flickr. ### 6. Paste both values into the app In Photo Stream Assistant, Settings has a Flickr API credentials section with two fields. Paste the key and the secret, save, then continue to Flickr authorization, which opens Flickr's own sign-in inside the app and asks you to allow it. The values stay on your Mac. ## Questions ### Does a Flickr API key cost anything? The key itself is free. Creating one requires a Flickr Pro subscription, which is Flickr's decision and applies to every third-party app, not to this one in particular. ### Can I use one key in several apps? You can, but do not. A key is Flickr's way of knowing which app is calling, and the rate limit of about 3,600 requests per hour applies per key. One key per app keeps the limits separate and lets you revoke one app without breaking another. ### What can an app do with my key? Nothing on its own. The key and secret identify the app. Access to your photos comes from a separate authorization step, where Flickr asks you to allow the app and tells you the permission level: read, write, or delete. You can revoke that at any time from your Flickr account's Sharing and Extending page. ### Why does the app ask for my own key instead of shipping one? Because Flickr's rate limit is per key. An app shipping one key for everyone would hit the limit as soon as a few people used it at once. With your own key, your library's requests are yours alone. ## In the app - [Flickr Desktop App](https://my-flickr-assistant.monier.tv/flickr-desktop-app-mac) Written by Stéphane Monier for Photo Stream Assistant. Photo Stream Assistant is an independent app, not affiliated with Flickr or SmugMug.