> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.fireworks.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Getting started

You can install the client library with pip:

```bash pip theme={null}
pip install --upgrade fireworks-ai
```

### Authentication

You can authenticate with Fireworks by setting the `fireworks.client.api_key` variable:

```python theme={null}
fireworks.client.api_key = "<API_KEY>"
```

Or by setting the `FIREWORKS_API_KEY` environment variable:

```
export FIREWORKS_API_KEY=<API_KEY>
```