Basic Authentication

Basic authentication sends a base64-encoded username:password string in the Authorization header with every request. It is supported by most HTTP servers and is the simplest auth method to configure.

Setup

1. Open a request and click the Auth tab.
2. Select Basic Auth from the type dropdown.
3. Enter your Username and Password.

The credentials are encoded and sent automatically with each request.

How It Works

Nouto combines the username and password as username:password, encodes the result in Base64, and sends it as an HTTP header:

Authorization: Basic dXNlcjpwYXNzd29yZA==

The server decodes and validates the credentials on every request. There is no token exchange or session involved.

Variable Support

Both fields accept {{variable}} syntax:

Field	Example
Username	{{API_USERNAME}}
Password	{{API_PASSWORD}}

Store credentials in environment variables to avoid hard-coding them in your requests.

cURL Export

When you copy a request as cURL, Basic auth is included using the -u flag:

curl https://api.example.com/resource \
  -u 'username:password'

Security Considerations

Base64 encoding is not encryption. Anyone who intercepts the Authorization header can decode the credentials immediately. Always use HTTPS when sending Basic auth credentials to external servers.

For public APIs and services, prefer Bearer tokens or API keys over Basic auth when the option exists.