# Ingest key

> What an ingest key is, why a key in a public script tag is safe to show, and how MIRA FIVE issues ingest keys for website and server sources.

URL: https://mirafive.io/glossary/ingest-key  
Updated: 2026-09-28

An ingest key is the key a tracking script or a server uses to send events into one analytics project, with no right to read data back.

Analytics tools separate two kinds of credential. An ingest key, also called a write key or project key, lets a client send events. An [API key](https://mirafive.io/glossary/api-key) lets a program read reports. The split exists because the ingest key has to live where visitors can see it: in the page source of a website.

A key that can only add events to one project is safe to publish. Someone who copies it can send data to that project and read nothing from it. Keys used by servers are different: they stay on the server and are treated as secrets.

## In MIRA FIVE

Each [source](https://mirafive.io/glossary/source) has its own keys, on its Ingest keys tab, and they come in two kinds. The website key of a website source sits in the script tag as `data-key`, where anyone viewing the page can read it; only the source’s allowed origins may send with it. The secret key of a server source is shown once, lives in `MIRAFIVE_SECRET_KEY` on your backend and never reaches a browser. Server SDKs for Node.js, PHP, Laravel and others, or plain HTTP to `https://events.mirafive.io/v1/batch`, send events with it.

Reading data back takes a personal API key or OAuth. A key can be revoked, and its source then stops accepting it.

## Read next

### Related terms

- [Source](https://mirafive.io/glossary/source)
- [API key](https://mirafive.io/glossary/api-key)
- [Event](https://mirafive.io/glossary/event)
- [First-party collection](https://mirafive.io/glossary/first-party)

[All terms](https://mirafive.io/glossary)

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