Connecting Claude Code

Authenticating

How your secret key authenticates every connector call, and the safest ways to give it to Claude.

The Launchpad connector is stateless. There's no login step and no session token: every tool call carries your secret key, and the connector checks it against your account each time. This keeps things simple and means a Claude session that spans several conversations never "logs out".

Your key starts with lp_live_ and was shown to you once at the end of the launch sequence (see Create your account). You can create a new one any time from your dashboard.

Giving the key to Claude

You have two sensible options.

1. Paste it when asked

The first time Claude needs to call the connector in a session, it will ask for the key. Paste it. Claude will reuse it for the rest of the session. This is the best option if you're on a shared machine or just trying things out.

2. Keep it in a project file

Save the key in a file at the root of the project folder you open in Claude Code, for example launchpad-key.txt (the file the Download key button on your dashboard saves), and add that filename to .gitignore. Then tell Claude:

My Launchpad secret key is in launchpad-key.txt.

Claude will read it when it needs it. The key never ends up in your chat history or your repository, and you don't have to paste it again in later sessions.

What the key can and can't do

It can launch servers on your plan, open sessions to your servers, deploy to them and terminate them (with an explicit confirmation flag).
It cannot see or touch anyone else's servers.
Sessions it opens are scoped to one server and expire after 30 minutes.

Keys for specific servers

By default a key works on all your servers, including any you add later. In Settings → Secret keys you can instead create a key that works only on the servers you choose, for example one app's server for a contractor, or a key you'd rather not have able to touch your production server.

Pick Only specific servers when you create the key, then tick the servers. You can change the choice later with Change next to the key, or switch it back to all servers.
A key limited to servers can deploy to, open sessions on, read logs from and manage those servers only. It cannot create servers, check provisioning jobs, or turn connectors on or off, because those affect the whole account.
A server you add later isn't included in a limited key until you add it.
If every server a key is limited to is removed, the key can do nothing. It never turns into an all-servers key.
If Claude says a key is limited, tell it to use a different key, or add the server to this key from Settings.

If a key is exposed

Open your dashboard and choose Create a new key. The old key stops working immediately. Because sessions are short-lived and single-server, the practical exposure from a leaked key is bounded, but we'd still rather you didn't test it.

Next: Your first session.

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