Quick Start

This guide walks you through your first API calls — from verifying your key to updating content in a content engine.

Prerequisites

• A GEN account at gen.pro
• An API key (create one here)
• Active GEN credits on your account
• At least one agent with a content engine

Set your API key as an environment variable to follow along:

export GEN_API_KEY="gen_pat_your_key_here"

1. Verify your API key

   Confirm your key is working by hitting the /v1/me endpoint:

   curl -s https://api.gen.pro/v1/me \
     -H "X-API-Key: $GEN_API_KEY" | jq

   {
     "id": "user_abc123",
     "email": "you@example.com",
     "name": "Your Name"
   }

   If you get a 401 response, double-check your key.

2. List your workspaces

   Workspaces organize your agents and content. List them to orient yourself:

   curl -s https://api.gen.pro/v1/workspaces \
     -H "X-API-Key: $GEN_API_KEY" | jq

   {
     "workspaces": [
       {
         "id": "ws_abc123",
         "name": "My Workspace",
         "agents_count": 3
       }
     ]
   }

   Note

   You don’t need a workspace ID for most requests — it’s scoped through your agent. This is just useful for discovery.

3. Find your agent

   Every content operation is scoped to an agent. List your agents to find the one you want to work with:

   curl -s https://api.gen.pro/v1/agents \
     -H "X-API-Key: $GEN_API_KEY" | jq

   {
     "agents": [
       {
         "id": "agent_xyz789",
         "name": "Alex",
         "niche": "Tech Reviews"
       }
     ]
   }

   Save the agent ID — you will need it for all content engine requests:

   export AGENT_ID="agent_xyz789"

4. Get a content engine

   Fetch one of the agent’s content engines to see its structure — rows, columns, and cells:

   curl -s "https://api.gen.pro/v1/autocontentengine/{sheet_id}?agent_id=$AGENT_ID" \
     -H "X-API-Key: $GEN_API_KEY" | jq

   {
     "id": "sheet_001",
     "name": "Week 12 Content",
     "columns": [
       { "id": "col_script", "name": "Script", "position": 0 },
       { "id": "col_voice", "name": "Voiceover", "position": 1 },
       { "id": "col_broll", "name": "B-Roll", "position": 2 }
     ],
     "rows": [
       {
         "id": "row_001",
         "position": 0,
         "cells": [
           {
             "id": "cell_abc",
             "column_id": "col_script",
             "value": "Top 5 phones of 2026..."
           }
         ]
       }
     ]
   }

   Note

   Replace {sheet_id} with an actual content engine ID from your agent. You can find content engine IDs in the GEN web app URL or by listing the agent’s content engines.

5. Update a cell

   Now modify a cell value — for example, updating a script:

   curl -s -X PATCH \
     "https://api.gen.pro/v1/autocontentengine/{sheet_id}/cells/{cell_id}?agent_id=$AGENT_ID" \
     -H "X-API-Key: $GEN_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "value": "The top 5 phones of 2026 will surprise you. Number one..."
     }' | jq

   {
     "id": "cell_abc",
     "column_id": "col_script",
     "value": "The top 5 phones of 2026 will surprise you. Number one...",
     "updated_at": "2026-03-09T12:00:00Z"
   }

   The cell is updated immediately. If you open the content engine in the GEN web app, you will see the new value.

What’s next?

You have the basics down. Here is where to go from here:

API Reference Full endpoint documentation for content engines, rows, columns, cells, layers, and generations.

Using with n8n Connect GEN to n8n workflows for event-driven content automation.

Using with Claude Code Use the MCP server to manage content through natural language with Claude.

Error Handling Understand error codes, rate limits, and how to handle failures gracefully.