Summary: Neon uses a different credential for each job: API keys manage your projects, branches, and settings; scoped credentials do your running app's work in Object Storage and the AI Gateway; a database connection credential reaches Postgres; and the Data API takes a JWT that runs each query as a Postgres role. Scoped credentials are limited by their scopes and anchored to a branch and its descendants. Your access to a project is your organization role plus any per-project grant. IP Allow and Private Networking gate the Postgres endpoint; the other services are gated by their credentials.

How API keys, scoped credentials, permissions, and network controls govern access to your backend

Access to your Neon backend runs on a handful of credentials, one for each kind of job: an API key manages your setup, a scoped credential does your running app's work, a database connection credential reaches Postgres, and a JWT authorizes end users through the Data API.

The most important line to draw is between the first two. An API key manages your setup and can mint scoped credentials, so keep API keys out of your app's runtime and give each workload its own scoped credential.

Availability differs by product and by region. See Product availability.

Match what you're doing to the credential that does it. Each row has its own section below:

An API key is a bearer token for the Neon API, and there's one API surface for the whole platform rather than one per product, so a single key covers Postgres, Object Storage, the AI Gateway, Functions, and Managed Better Auth alike. Keys come in three kinds with decreasing reach:

• Personal keys act as you.
• Organization keys cover one organization.
• Project-scoped keys cover one project.

An API key can create a scoped credential, but a scoped credential cannot create or manage anything, so keep API keys out of your application runtime. See Manage API keys.

You can also sign the CLI in with neon login; it then acts with your access, like a personal key. For scripts and CI, give the CLI an API key instead. See CLI authentication.

Most of what your running app connects to uses scoped credentials. Object Storage and the AI Gateway use one shared credential, and the scopes you attach decide what it unlocks:

• storage:read and storage:write for Object Storage.
• ai_gateway:invoke for the AI Gateway.

A credential has two independent dimensions: its scopes say what it can do, and its branch anchor says where it reaches. See Object storage authentication and AI Gateway authentication.

A credential is tied to the branch you create it on. It works on that branch and on any branch that comes from it, now or later. So a credential created on your default branch reaches nearly every branch in your project, which is handy for preview branches. For production, create a credential on the specific branch that needs it, so its reach stays narrow. See The object model and Branching.

A scoped credential comes in the form each service expects: an S3-compatible access key for Object Storage, and a bearer token for services you call over HTTP, like the AI Gateway. Both are the same underlying credential, so if you revoke or delete it, both stop working at once. You cannot change a credential's scopes or branch after you create it. To rotate the secret while keeping the same credential, scopes, and branch, use neon credentials rotate. To change the scopes or branch, create a new credential and revoke the old one. See Object storage authentication.

A Neon Function is given a scoped credential for the branch it runs on, so your code can reach Object Storage and the AI Gateway on that branch without you adding a secret. But the function has a public HTTPS URL, and Neon does not check who is calling it. Authenticating incoming requests is up to you, in your handler. See Environment variables and Neon Functions authentication.

Connecting to Postgres uses a database connection credential: a Postgres role and its password, in the connection string your app or client uses. See Connect to Neon.

IP Allow and Private Networking gate the Postgres endpoint, and only the Postgres endpoint. Object Storage, the AI Gateway, and Function URLs are protected by their credentials instead. See IP Allow and Private Networking.

Important: Network controls don't cover every service

IP Allow and Private Networking gate the Postgres endpoint. They don't restrict requests to Object Storage, the AI Gateway, or Function URLs. For those services the credential is the access control, so scope it and anchor it deliberately.

The Data API and Managed Better Auth authenticate end users with JWTs. A request carries a JWT from an issuer the project trusts, Neon selects a Postgres role from it, and the query runs as that role, so your GRANTs and RLS decide what it can do. See Manage the Data API and Access control & security.

Your access on a project is your organization role plus any per-project grant you hold, and a per-project grant only adds access, never removes it. A personal API key's reach follows this rule, which is why it tracks its owner's current access rather than being fixed at creation. See User permissions and the Permissions quickstart.

• Manage API keys: Create, list, and revoke personal, organization, and project-scoped keys.
• Object storage authentication: Create a credential and use it with an AWS SDK.
• AI Gateway authentication: Create a bearer credential for model calls.
• User permissions: Organization roles, per-project grants, and how they combine.
• Data API access control: How JWT verification, roles, and RLS secure the Data API.
• IP Allow: Restrict database connections to trusted addresses.
• Connect your app: Connect your app to Postgres, Object Storage, the AI Gateway, and the Data API, one branch at a time.

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