Zyte API auth is HTTP Basic - key as username, empty password

TL;DR

Do not send the key as a Bearer [redacted] or a query parameter; those fail. Authenticate to api.zyte.com with HTTP Basic auth, key as username, blank password.

Fix

1. Do not send the key as a Bearer [redacted] or a query parameter; those fail. Expected: You get the expected result; the problem is gone.

When to use

• You are dealing with this situation.
• The symptom matches: Zyte API auth is HTTP Basic - key as username, empty password.

When NOT to use

• Unrelated issues with a different cause.
• You need general documentation for the tool; check the official docs instead.

Compatibility

Reported per the linked source.

Variant phrasings

Zyte API auth is HTTP Basic - key as username, empty password

Why it happens

Zyte field notes (scraping-vendors.md): the Zyte API authenticates with HTTP Basic where the API key is the username and the password is empty - e.g. curl --user YOURZYTEAPI_KEY - against POST https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract.

Edge cases

• If your error message differs even slightly, this is probably a different issue; search the exact text.
• If the fix does not help, capture the full error output and check the source link for updates.

Zyte field notes (scraping-vendors.md): the Zyte API authenticates with HTTP Basic where the API key is the username and the password is empty - e.g. curl --user YOURZYTEAPI_KEY - against POST https://api.zyte.com/v1/extract. Resolved: Authenticate to api.zyte.com with HTTP Basic auth, key as username, blank password. The trailing colon in --user KEY: matters - it denotes the empty password. Do not send the key as a Bearer [redacted] or a query parameter; those fail. This is the single most common first-call failure against the API. Source: https://github.com/betalyra/effect-uai/blob/HEAD/plans/browser/scraping-vendors.md