quickstart.mdx

title	Quickstart
description	Get up and running with the Exchange Rates API in under 2 minutes

Get Your API Key

Visit [app.exchangeratesapi.com.au](https://app.exchangeratesapi.com.au) and sign up using your email address.

<Note>No credit card required for the free tier (300 requests/month)</Note>

Check your email inbox and click the magic link to verify your account. This will automatically log you into the dashboard. In the dashboard, click **"Generate New API Key"**. Your API key will have a unique prefix (e.g., `buderim_abc123...`).

<Warning>Copy your API key immediately - it's only shown once for security reasons</Warning>

Test your API key with a simple request to get the latest exchange rates:

```bash
curl https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/latest \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here"
```

Your First API Call

Let's start with the most common use case - getting current exchange rates:

curl https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/latest \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here"

const response = await fetch('https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/latest', {
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
  }
});

const data = await response.json();

if (data.success) {
  console.log(`Current USD rate: ${data.rates.USD}`);
  console.log(`Data from: ${data.date}`);
} else {
  console.error('API Error:', data.error);
}

import requests

headers = {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
}

response = requests.get(
    'https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/latest',
    headers=headers
)

data = response.json()

if data['success']:
    print(f"Current USD rate: {data['rates']['USD']}")
    print(f"Data from: {data['date']}")
else:
    print(f"API Error: {data['error']['info']}")

<?php
$api_key = 'your_api_key_here';

$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/latest',
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        'Authorization: Bearer ' . $api_key
    ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
curl_close($curl);

$data = json_decode($response, true);

if ($data['success']) {
    echo "Current USD rate: " . $data['rates']['USD'] . "\n";
    echo "Data from: " . $data['date'] . "\n";
} else {
    echo "API Error: " . $data['error']['info'] . "\n";
}
?>

Expected Response

{
  "success": true,
  "timestamp": 1725080400,
  "base": "AUD",
  "date": "2025-08-31",
  "rates": {
    "USD": 0.643512,
    "EUR": 0.562934,
    "GBP": 0.487421,
    "JPY": 96.832100,
    "NZD": 1.094200,
    "CAD": 0.893421,
    "CHF": 0.578234,
    "CNY": 4.623451,
    "TWI": 60.500000
  }
}

Currency Conversion

Convert amounts between currencies:

curl "https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/convert?from=AUD&to=USD&amount=100" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here"

const amount = 100;
const from = 'AUD';
const to = 'USD';

const response = await fetch(
  `https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/convert?from=${from}&to=${to}&amount=${amount}`,
  {
    headers: {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
    }
  }
);

const data = await response.json();
console.log(`${amount} ${from} = ${data.result} ${to}`);

import requests

params = {
    'from': 'AUD',
    'to': 'USD',
    'amount': 100
}

headers = {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
}

response = requests.get(
    'https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/convert',
    params=params,
    headers=headers
)

data = response.json()
print(f"{params['amount']} {params['from']} = {data['result']} {params['to']}")

<?php
$params = http_build_query([
    'from' => 'AUD',
    'to' => 'USD',
    'amount' => 100
]);

$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/convert?' . $params,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        'Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here'
    ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$data = json_decode($response, true);

echo "100 AUD = " . $data['result'] . " USD";
?>

Conversion Response

{
  "success": true,
  "query": {
    "from": "AUD",
    "to": "USD",
    "amount": 100
  },
  "info": {
    "timestamp": 1725080400,
    "rate": 0.643512
  },
  "date": "2025-08-31",
  "result": 64.3512
}

Historical Data

Get exchange rates from any date since 2018:

curl https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/2024-12-01 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here"

const historicalDate = '2024-12-01';

const response = await fetch(
  `https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/${historicalDate}`,
  {
    headers: {
      'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
    }
  }
);

const data = await response.json();
console.log(`USD rate on ${historicalDate}: ${data.rates.USD}`);

import requests

historical_date = '2024-12-01'
headers = {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
}

response = requests.get(
    f'https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/{historical_date}',
    headers=headers
)

data = response.json()
print(f"USD rate on {historical_date}: {data['rates']['USD']}")

Error Handling

Always check the success field in responses:

const response = await fetch('https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/latest', {
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
  }
});

const data = await response.json();

if (!data.success) {
  switch (data.error.code) {
    case 401:
      console.error('Invalid API key');
      break;
    case 429:
      console.error('Rate limit exceeded');
      break;
    case 400:
      console.error('Bad request:', data.error.info);
      break;
    default:
      console.error('API error:', data.error.info);
  }
} else {
  // Process successful response
  console.log('Current rates:', data.rates);
}

Free Tier Testing

Want to try the API without signing up? Use our free conversion endpoint (3 requests/hour per IP):

curl "https://api.exchangeratesapi.com.au/convert?from=AUD&to=USD&amount=100"
# No authentication required for free tier

Next Steps

Explore all available endpoints and parameters Learn about API key security and best practices Understand plan limits and upgrade options Use our official SDKs for popular languages