Install and Authenticate

Install synth-ai in a Python environment. Add the research extra for Managed Research and Research Factory (client.research):

uv add "synth-ai[research]==0.13.0"

For one-off commands:

uvx synth-ai --help

API key

Set SYNTH_API_KEY:

export SYNTH_API_KEY="sk_..."

Then construct the client:

from synth_ai import SynthClient

client = SynthClient()

You can also pass the key explicitly:

client = SynthClient(api_key="sk_...")

The SDK uses the production backend by default. Use base_url for local, staging, or private backend targets.

client = SynthClient(
    api_key="sk_...",
    base_url="http://127.0.0.1:8000",
)

The CLI accepts --backend-url and also reads SYNTH_BACKEND_URL.

synth-ai containers list --backend-url http://127.0.0.1:8000

from synth_ai import SynthClient

client = SynthClient()
print(client.research.get_limits())
print(client.tunnels.health())

If auth fails, check that SYNTH_API_KEY is present and belongs to the expected workspace.

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