Authentication & Essentials

In this section, we’ll discuss how to securely authorize your requests, handle potential errors, and manage credits for ShortGenius services.

Authentication (Bearer Token)

All ShortGenius endpoints require a valid bearer token. If you haven’t already retrieved a token from your ShortGenius dashboard, follow the sign-up process mentioned in our Getting Started Quickstart.

How to include your token:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN

Example request:

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://shortgenius.com/api/v1/health" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Tip: Always store tokens securely (e.g., environment variables, secret managers). Do not commit them to version control.

Handling Errors

ShortGenius will return standard HTTP status codes and JSON-encoded error messages when something goes wrong. Below are some common error types:

Status Code	Meaning	Example Message
400	Bad Request	{"message": "Invalid request"}
401	Unauthorized	{"message": "Unauthorized"}
404	Not Found	{"message": "Not found"}
429	Too Many Requests	{"message": "Rate limit exceeded"}
500	Internal Server Error	{"message": "Something went wrong"}

Example of a 400 Response:

{
  "message": "Invalid request"
}

Always inspect the returned JSON for more details on why a request failed.

Rate Limits & Credits

ShortGenius enforces usage limits via a credit-based system. Each time you generate a video, image, or audio file, credits are deducted from your account.

Types of credits include:

• credits – General-purpose for many actions

• animated_video_credits – Special tier for certain AI animations

• image_credits – Used specifically for image generation

• high_quality_video_credits – For higher resolution or advanced video rendering

Checking Your Credit Balance

Use the GET /credits endpoint to see how many credits remain:

curl --request GET \
  --url "https://shortgenius.com/api/v1/credits" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Sample response:

{
  "balance": {
    "credits": 217,
    "animated_video_credits": 3,
    "high_quality_video_credits": 1,
    "image_credits": 12
  }
}

Best Practice: Check your available credits regularly to avoid interruptions, especially before generating large batches of videos or images.

---

Next Steps You’re now ready to dig into ShortGenius’s core functionality. Let’s move on to Video Generation to learn how to create short AI-driven clips from scratch.