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

# Quickstart

> From zero to your first response in two calls.

## 1. Authenticate

Every request carries a bearer token, either a Personal Access Token or an [OAuth access token](/api-reference/authentication), in the `Authorization` header. Reads need `READ` permission.

```bash theme={null}
# Look a contact up by email (remember to URL-encode the @ as %40)
curl https://api.inflection.io/v1/contacts/by-email/jane%40acme.com \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer inf_pat_your_token_here"
```

## 2. Read the response

Success comes back wrapped in a `data` / `meta` envelope. Contact attributes live under `properties`, using **snake\_case** keys.

```json theme={null}
{
  "data": {
    "id": "0001760c4a86bc38a4a60bcceae32540",
    "email": "jane@acme.com",
    "properties": {
      "first_name": "Jane",
      "last_name": "Doe",
      "company_name": "Acme",
      "_source": "CONTACTS_SYNC_API"
    }
  },
  "meta": { "status": "SUCCESS", "timestamp": "2026-07-02T10:00:00Z" }
}
```

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Authentication" icon="key" href="/api-reference/authentication">
    Tokens, scopes, and what 401 vs 403 mean.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Contacts" icon="address-book" href="/api-reference/contacts/get-contact-by-id">
    Read, create, and sync people.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>