Anthropic Knowledge Hub

Get access to the Compliance API ​

Request Compliance API access for your organization, then create a Compliance Access Key (with scoped permissions) or an Admin API key, and learn which to use.

INFO

The Compliance API is enabled on request. Claude Enterprise organizations have access to the full API; Claude Console organizations have access to the Activity Feed only. This page describes how to request access and create API keys.

TIP

Required role: organization admin (Claude Console) or primary owner (claude.ai).

The Compliance API uses two key types, and which one you create depends on which Claude product your organization uses. Primary owners create Compliance Access Keys in claude.ai; these keys unlock the full Compliance API. Organization admins create Admin API keys in Claude Console; these keys unlock the Activity Feed only.

Which key do you need? ​

Key typeCreated inUsed forWorks with the Compliance API?
Compliance Access Key (sk-ant-api01-...)claude.ai > Organization settings > Data and privacyActivity Feed, chats, files, projects, users, and organization metadataYes (all endpoints)
Admin API key (sk-ant-admin01-...)Claude Console > Settings > Admin keysThe Admin API and the Compliance API Activity FeedActivity Feed only
Analytics API keyclaude.ai > Analytics > API keysThe Claude Enterprise Analytics APINo
Claude API key (sk-ant-api03-...)Claude Console > Settings > API keysCalling Claude models through the Claude APINo

A Claude Enterprise tenant has one parent organization that centralizes identity, SSO, and SCIM for every workload organization beneath it. These workload organizations are the parent's linked organizations.

WARNING

Claude Enterprise parent organizations do not appear in Claude Console (platform.claude.com). The parent carries no workloads, no Claude API keys, and no Admin API keys. Create Compliance Access Keys in claude.ai Organization settings, not in Claude Console.

Request Compliance API access ​

Contact your Anthropic representative to request access. Enablement happens at the parent organization level and cascades to every linked organization, both claude.ai and Claude Console. What changes after enablement depends on which Claude product your organization uses.

After enablement: claude.ai organizations ​

After Anthropic enables the Compliance API for your parent organization, a Compliance access keys section appears at claude.ai > Organization settings > Data and privacy. The primary owner can then create Compliance Access Keys.

After enablement: Claude Console organizations ​

After Anthropic enables the Compliance API for your parent organization, Admin API keys created from then on carry the read:compliance_activities scope. Admin API keys created before enablement continue to work with the Admin API, but calling the Activity Feed with one returns 403 Forbidden; create a new Admin API key to pick up the scope.

Create a Compliance Access Key ​

INFO

The Compliance API must already be enabled for your claude.ai parent organization before a Compliance Access Key can be created.

WARNING

A Compliance Access Key with read:compliance_user_data can read every chat, file, and project in every linked organization, including content the primary owner has not seen. A key with delete:compliance_user_data can permanently delete that content. Treat Compliance Access Keys like production database credentials: store them in a secrets manager, never in source control or SIEM forwarder configuration.

Sign in as the primary owner ​

Only the primary owner of the parent organization can create Compliance Access Keys. If the **Compliance access keys** section described in the next step is not visible, either you are not the primary owner, or the Compliance API has not been enabled for your organization yet (see [Request Compliance API access](#request-compliance-api-access)).

Open Data and privacy settings ​

Go to claude.ai > Organization settings > Data and privacy and find the **Compliance access keys** section.

Create the key ​

Click **Create key**, name the key, and select one or more scopes from the following table. Click **Create**.

| Scope                          | Grants                                                                          |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `read:compliance_activities`   | Read the Activity Feed for the parent organization and all linked organizations |
| `read:compliance_user_data`    | Read user chats, messages, files, projects, organization users, and group members |
| `delete:compliance_user_data`  | Delete user chats, files, and projects                                          |
| `read:compliance_org_data`     | Read organization metadata (names, types, roles, and groups). User listings and group membership require `read:compliance_user_data`. |

Choose the smallest scope set that your integration needs:

- An audit pipeline that reads the Activity Feed only needs `read:compliance_activities`.
- An eDiscovery tool that reads chats and files but never deletes them does not need `delete:compliance_user_data`.
- If your workflow both reads and deletes, use **two keys** with separate scopes so a leaked read key cannot delete data.

Compliance Access Key scopes are immutable after creation. To change scopes, create a new key with the scopes you want, then delete the old one.

Copy and store the secret ​

Copy the displayed secret key (starting with `sk-ant-api01-`) and store it in your secrets manager. The full secret is displayed only once.

Export the key for the examples in this guide ​

Set the key as an environment variable so the shell samples in this guide can read it:

```bash
export ANTHROPIC_COMPLIANCE_ACCESS_KEY=sk-ant-api01-...
```

Create an Admin API key ​

INFO

The Compliance API must already be enabled for your Claude Console organization before an Admin API key can call the Activity Feed.

Sign in as an organization admin ​

Only an organization member with the **admin** role can create Admin API keys. See [Organization roles and permissions](/manage-claude/admin-api#organization-roles-and-permissions) for the full role list.

Open Admin keys settings ​

Go to [Claude Console > Settings > Admin keys](https://platform.claude.com/settings/admin-keys).

Create the key ​

Click **Create key**, name the key, and click **Create**.

Copy and store the secret ​

Copy the displayed secret key (starting with `sk-ant-admin01-`) and store it in your secrets manager. The full secret is displayed only once.

Export the key for use with the Activity Feed ​

Set the key as an environment variable:

```bash
export ANTHROPIC_ADMIN_KEY=sk-ant-admin01-...
```

The distinct variable name keeps the Admin API key from overwriting a Compliance Access Key if you provision both. The cURL examples in this guide read the key from `$ANTHROPIC_COMPLIANCE_ACCESS_KEY`; substitute `$ANTHROPIC_ADMIN_KEY` when calling the [Activity Feed](/manage-claude/compliance-activity-feed) with an Admin API key.

Admin API keys carry the read:compliance_activities scope only when the Compliance API was enabled for the organization before the key was created; see After enablement: Claude Console organizations. They cannot be granted any other Compliance API scope, so calls to any endpoint other than the Activity Feed return 403 Forbidden.

For the same key's role in managing your Claude Console organization, see Admin API.

Check your key's scopes ​

To inspect the scopes on a key you already have, use one of the following signals.

  • Key prefix. sk-ant-admin01- is an Admin API key (carries read:compliance_activities only, subject to the enablement timing in the preceding section). sk-ant-api01- is a Compliance Access Key; its scopes are the subset you selected at creation.
  • Settings UI. Open the Compliance access keys section in claude.ai > Organization settings > Data and privacy, or the Admin keys section in Claude Console > Settings > Admin keys, and read the Scopes column for the key.
  • Error responses. A call that exceeds the key's scopes returns a 403 with a message in the format Missing required scopes. Got: [<scopes the key carries>] Needed: [<scopes the endpoint requires>]. See Handle Compliance API errors for the full error catalog.
json
{
  "error": {
    "type": "permission_error",
    "message": "Missing required scopes. Got: ['read:compliance_activities'] Needed: ['read:compliance_user_data']"
  }
}

Manage and rotate keys ​

Delete a Compliance Access Key from the same Compliance access keys panel where you created it: go to claude.ai > Organization settings > Data and privacy. Delete an Admin API key from Claude Console > Settings > Admin keys.

Deleting a key takes effect on the next request: there is no grace period. Compliance Access Keys do not expire on their own.

To rotate a key without an outage:

  1. Create a new key with the same scopes.
  2. Update your integration to use the new key.
  3. Verify the integration succeeds with the new key.
  4. Delete the old key.

Pagination cursors stored before a rotation remain valid: cursors are scoped to the organization, not the key.

If a Compliance Access Key leaks, delete it immediately, audit the Activity Feed for compliance_api_accessed activities by the compromised key, and rotate any downstream credentials that the leaked key could reach. Pass activity_types[]=compliance_api_accessed to scope the query, then in your client, keep the activities whose actor.type is api_actor and whose actor.api_key_id matches the compromised key; see Understand the Activity object for the actor schema.

Next steps ​

Read organization-wide activity events with any key that has `read:compliance_activities`.


Use a Compliance Access Key with `read:compliance_user_data` to retrieve claude.ai content, and `delete:compliance_user_data` to delete it.