API keys, which have always been annoying, are particularly annoying in the age of AI. If you used to spend 8 hours on a project, it was OK to spend 30 minutes getting API keys. But when you vibe code the whole project in 5 minutes, the 30 minutes getting API keys is particularly egregious.

There's a new movement x402

Getting an API key sucks, and has always sucked because you face double unknowns:

1. Unknown time to obtain. It might take 2 minutes. It might take 20 minutes. You might get a free trial. You might have to supply a credit card. Before you get the key, you don't know if you're signing up for a small tasks or a large one. You are entirely at the mercy of the API provider: do they take developer experience seriously and make it painless and immediate or do they not really care about saving developer time, and make it a Kafka-esque nightmare of forms and requirements until you get the key, with the appropriate capabilities?

2. Unknown benefit. The API might do exactly what you need, saving you time and effort. It might be entirely useless. Until you get the key, you can't know for sure.

With an unknown cost and unknown benefit, it becomes really hard to decide which APIs to sign up for. A lot is communicated in vibes: if the website seems vibey and modern, then they likely care about developer experience, and will make it easy for us to get API keys. If it seems corporate or they want you to "contact sales", they clearly aren't looking for developer to self-serve.

The dream, of course, is to never have to sign up for an API key, and get immediate access to all the world's APIs.