---
title: Quickstart
description: Run your first Whale data query with an application API key.
---

# Quickstart

Before starting, your organization needs a Portal account, an application, a platform-assigned active subscription, and an active application API key.

Current validation Base URL:

```text
http://20.169.21.11
```

This endpoint is for integration validation only. Production integrations must use the HTTPS hostname supplied by Whale.

```bash
export WHALE_BASE_URL='http://20.169.21.11'
export WHALE_API_KEY='whale_consumer_xxx'

curl --request POST "$WHALE_BASE_URL/v1/contents/search" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $WHALE_API_KEY" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "mode": "keyword",
    "query": "artificial intelligence",
    "source_platforms": ["youtube"],
    "top_k": 10
  }'
```

Load a result by `document_id`:

```bash
curl "$WHALE_BASE_URL/v1/documents/DOCUMENT_ID" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $WHALE_API_KEY"
```

Continue with [Portal and Subscriptions](/en/docs/portal), [Authentication](/en/docs/authentication), [Platform Coverage](/en/docs/platforms), [Data Access](/en/docs/search), the [Production Guide](/en/docs/production), and the [Public API Reference](/en/public-api-reference).