# Getting started with Python

### Request code

To query the API, you can use any HTTP client of choice or any specialized GraphQL API Client.

{% hint style="info" %}
Make sure to replace `<REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_KEY>` with your unique API key.
{% endhint %}

```python
import requests

API_KEY = "<REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_KEY>"
API_ENDPOINT = "https://api.craft.co/v1/query"
GRAPHQL_QUERY = """
    query getAlerts($first: Int!) { 
        alerts(first: $first) {
            id
            dataset
            variable
        }
    }
"""

request_headers= { "x-craft-api-key": API_KEY }
request_data = {
    "query": GRAPHQL_QUERY,
    "variables": { "first": 3 }
}

response = requests.post(API_ENDPOINT, json=request_data, headers=request_headers, timeout=30)
response_data = response.json()

print(response_data)
```

### Response

The above command returns JSON structured like this:

```javascript
{
  "data": {
    "alerts": [
      {
        "id": "8da58037-d0b9-8365-75b4-6754aed4e9b0",
        "dataset": "news",
        "variable": "news_article"
      },
      {
        "id": "8489a57b-7be9-0364-a95d-65ad84ed430a",
        "dataset": "news",
        "variable": "news_article"
      },
      {
        "id": "8489a57b-7be9-0364-a90d-65ad84ed430a",
        "dataset": "news",
        "variable": "news_article"
      },
      ...
    ]
  }
}
```

#### Read more

* [Querying Alerts API](https://docs.craft.co/alerts-api/alerts-api-queries)
* [Alerts API Reference](https://docs.craft.co/alerts-api/alerts-api-reference)
* [Query examples](https://docs.craft.co/alerts-api/query-examples)