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Authorization

Follow this guide to create a new Exchange Rates API credential that will allow Nexla to authenticate to and exchange data with your Exchange Rates API account.
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Exchange Rates API

Prerequisites​

To connect Nexla to the Exchange Rates Data API, you need an active APILayer account and an API key for the Exchange Rates Data API product. The API key is passed as a custom HTTP request header (apikey) on every request Nexla makes to the service.

Create an APILayer Account and Subscribe to Exchange Rates Data API​

  1. Navigate to the Exchange Rates Data API product page on the APILayer marketplace.

  2. Click Subscribe for Free (or select a paid plan if your use case requires higher update frequency or a larger monthly request quota) and complete the account registration form. If you already have an APILayer account, click Log In at the top of the page and then subscribe from the product page.

  3. Once logged in, you are automatically subscribed to the selected plan for the Exchange Rates Data API. Navigate to your APILayer Account Dashboard to locate your API key.

  4. Under My Account, find the API Key section. Your personal API key — a unique alphanumeric string — is displayed there. Copy this value; you will enter it in Nexla during credential creation.

Your API key grants access to all APILayer APIs you are subscribed to. Keep it secure and do not share it in publicly accessible locations such as client-side code or public repositories. If a key is ever compromised, you can regenerate it from the APILayer Account Dashboard at any time.

Subscription Plans and Data Freshness​

The Exchange Rates Data API offers several subscription tiers that affect how frequently exchange rate data is refreshed and how many requests you can make per month:

  • Free Plan: Up to 100 monthly requests; rates updated daily. Suitable for testing and low-volume development.

  • Basic and higher plans: Higher request volumes with rates updated every 60 minutes, every 10 minutes, or as frequently as every 60 seconds on the Business plan.

Select the plan that matches your data freshness requirements before creating your Nexla credential. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time from the APILayer dashboard.

Create an Exchange Rates API Credential​

  • To create a new Exchange Rates API credential, after selecting the data source type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.

Credential Name & Description​

  1. Enter a name for the credential in the Credential Name field and a short, meaningful description in the Credential Description field.

    Resource descriptions are recommended but are not required. They should be used to provide information about the resource purpose, data freshness, etc. that can help the owner and other users efficiently understand and utilize the resource.

API Key Authentication​

The Exchange Rates Data API authenticates all requests using an API key sent as the apikey HTTP request header. Nexla handles this header automatically once you supply your key below.

  1. Enter your Exchange Rates Data API key in the API Key Value field. This is the alphanumeric key you copied from the APILayer Account Dashboard in the Prerequisites section above. The value is stored securely and used by Nexla to authenticate every request made on your behalf.

Base URL​

  1. The Base URL field is pre-populated with the production endpoint https://api.apilayer.com/exchangerates_data/. This is the correct base URL for the Exchange Rates Data API and does not need to be changed for standard use. Confirm the value is:

    https://api.apilayer.com/exchangerates_data/

    The Base URL must end with a trailing slash. All API endpoint paths (for example, latest, convert, timeseries) are appended to this base URL by Nexla when making requests.

Save the Credential​

  1. Once all of the relevant steps in the above sections have been completed, click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay to save the configured credential.

  2. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source creation and can be selected for use with a new data source.