---
canonical_url: "https://buildwithwave.com/docs/developers/safety"
title: "Safety"
description: "Keep your key in one private place, rotate or revoke it from Settings, and see every change your assistant makes in Wave under your name."
group: "developers"
lane: "explanation"
status: "published"
publishedAt: 2026-10-03
updatedAt: 2026-10-09
sidebarOrder: 60
tags: ["developer", "security", "keys"]
relatedSlugs:
  - "account/developer-api-keys"
  - "developers/read-and-write-keys"
  - "account/roles"
  - "account/slack-notifications"
sidebarLabel: "Safety"
---

A key works as you in your company's Wave account. You choose Read or Write, you pick when it expires, and you can switch it off from Settings at any time.

## Keep the key in one place

Wave shows the full key once, when you create it or rotate it.

Keep it in your assistant's secret or connector settings, or in a password manager. The message from **Tell your assistant this** holds no key. Paste the key itself only into the assistant you are connecting, when it asks for it. The prompt on [AI setup prompt](/docs/developers/ai-setup-guide) uses the example `wave_live_EXAMPLE_NOT_A_REAL_KEY`, so the real key stays out of shared instructions.

Send it as `Authorization: Bearer` and the key, to the Wave MCP server or to `/api/v1`. See [Where to send the key](/docs/developers/errors-and-limits#where-to-send-the-key).

## Rotate, revoke, and expire

- **Rotate** when you want a fresh key. The old one keeps working for 24 hours so you can switch over.
- **Revoke** when a laptop is lost, someone leaves, or you are finished with that assistant. It stops right away.
- **Expiry** ends a key on its own after 30 days, 90 days, or 1 year.

The steps are on [API keys](/docs/account/developer-api-keys).

## What the team sees

Every change made through a key is made as the person who owns it, and it shows in Wave under that person's name. When an admin has turned on **New note** in Slack notifications, notes post to Slack as that person, and several notes posted at once arrive as one card. That switch starts off.

A key works with member access, including a key an admin creates. Billing, plans, and team roles stay with admins in Wave.

A Read key and a Write key can both see phone and email when they open a job or a customer.

## Related

- [API keys](/docs/account/developer-api-keys): create, rotate, and revoke
- [Read and Write keys](/docs/developers/read-and-write-keys): what each key can change
- [User roles](/docs/account/roles): member and admin access
- [Slack notifications](/docs/account/slack-notifications): the New note switch for job notes