Basic auth generator — Guide

Generate a base64 basic auth header from a username and password.

What it is and when to use it

Build the Authorization header value for HTTP Basic auth: enter a username and password, get the base64-encoded string ready to paste into curl, an API client or a proxy config. Everything is computed in your browser — the credentials never leave the page.

Builds the HTTP Basic Authorization header from a username and password, ready to paste into an API request.

How to use it

  1. Enter the username
  2. Enter the password
  3. Copy the generated Authorization header

A worked example

Fill in a sample username

admin

Copy this into the tool, or open Basic auth generator

Things that trip people up

  • Basic auth only Base64-encodes the credentials, so it must always be used over HTTPS

Questions people ask

Is Basic auth secure?
Only over HTTPS. The header is trivially reversible — base64 is an encoding, not a lock — so it protects nothing if an attacker can read the traffic. Always pair it with TLS.
What exactly goes into the header?
The literal string "Basic " followed by base64(username:password), so user "api" with password "secret" becomes "Basic YXBpOnNlY3JldA==". This tool produces that value for you.
Why does my server reject the generated header?
Common causes: an extra space or newline copied in, the wrong scheme prefix, or the server expecting a token format instead. Compare the exact bytes you send with what the server documents.

Next steps

Open the Basic auth generator tool

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