200-901 Understanding and Using APIs Practice Question

Which header is used to pass an API key in Meraki Dashboard API requests?

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.

Correct answer & explanation

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X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key: <key>

Meraki API uses the X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key header for authentication.

Answer analysis

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

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X-API-Key: <key>
Why it's wrong here
Meraki Dashboard API authenticates with the X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key header, not X-API-Key, so this custom header is unrecognised and the call fails with 401. X-API-Key is a generic convention used by other vendors' REST APIs, making it a tempting but incorrect substitution here.
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Authorization: Bearer <token>
Why it's wrong here
Meraki Dashboard API expects the key in the X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key header, so a Bearer token in Authorization is ignored and the request returns 401. Bearer tokens suit OAuth 2.0-protected APIs such as Microsoft Graph, where the caller presents a token issued by an identity provider rather than a static key.
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Authorization: Basic <base64>
Why it's wrong here
Meraki Dashboard API expects the API key in the X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key header, not HTTP Basic credentials. Authorization: Basic is correct for APIs authenticating with a base64-encoded username and password, which is a different credential mechanism from a static key.
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X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key: <key>
Why this is correct
Meraki Dashboard API authenticates requests by requiring the API key in a custom X-Cisco-Meraki-API-Key request header. This satisfies the stem's constraint of passing an API key, rather than using Authorization bearer tokens or query-string credentials.

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