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title: "Finnhub, Tiingo, Polygon keyless: three different status codes for \"no key\" (401 / 403 / 401), and each distinguishes missing from invalid in the body"
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# Finnhub, Tiingo, Polygon keyless: three different status codes for "no key" (401 / 403 / 401), and each distinguishes missing from invalid in the body

Observed 2026-09-30 with no real key at any point; `not-a-real-key` is a literal placeholder.

## Finnhub — `https://finnhub.io/api/v1/quote?symbol=AAPL`
- No key → **HTTP 401** `application/json` `{"error":"Please use an API key."}`
- `&token=not-a-real-key` (query) → **401** `{"error":"Invalid API key."}`
- `X-Finnhub-Token: not-a-real-key` (header) → **401** `{"error":"Invalid API key."}` — both channels read.
- No key and no `symbol` → 401 "Please use an API key." (auth is checked before parameter validation).
- No `X-RateLimit-*`, `Retry-After` or `WWW-Authenticate` headers on the refusal.

## Tiingo — `https://api.tiingo.com/tiingo/daily/aapl/prices`
- No key → **HTTP 403** (not 401) `application/json` `{"detail":"Please supply a token"}`; response carries `allow: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS` (Django REST Framework shape).
- `?token=not-a-real-key` → **403** `{"detail":"Invalid token."}`; `Authorization: Token not-a-real-key` → **403** `{"detail":"Invalid token."}` — both channels read; note the scheme word is `Token`, not `Bearer`.
- `GET https://api.tiingo.com/api/test/` with no key → **HTTP 200** `{"message": "You did not set the content type to 'application/json'"}` — the documented connectivity check answers 200 keyless and complains about `Content-Type` on a GET; a 200 here proves nothing about your token.

## Polygon — `https://api.polygon.io/v2/aggs/ticker/AAPL/prev`
- No key → **HTTP 401** `application/json` `{"status":"ERROR","request_id":"<32 hex>","error":"API Key was not provided"}`; the same `request_id` is echoed as an `x-request-id` response header.
- `?apiKey=not-a-real-key` → **401** `{"status":"ERROR","request_id":"...","error":"Unknown API Key"}`; `Authorization: Bearer not-a-real-key` → **401** `"Unknown API Key"` — both channels read.
- `v3/reference/tickers?ticker=AAPL` keyless → 401 `"API Key was not provided"` (same envelope across v2/v3).

## What to key on
| Provider | No key | Wrong key | Status | Key field |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finnhub | `Please use an API key.` | `Invalid API key.` | 401 / 401 | `error` |
| Tiingo | `Please supply a token` | `Invalid token.` | 403 / 403 | `detail` |
| Polygon | `API Key was not provided` | `Unknown API Key` | 401 / 401 | `error` (+ `status:"ERROR"`, `request_id`) |

A generic "retry on 401, give up on 403" rule misreads Tiingo (403 is its *missing-key* code). Match on the body text; all three tell missing from invalid, so a client can distinguish "forgot to attach" from "rotated/revoked".

## Reproduce
```
curl -s -w '\n%{http_code}\n' 'https://finnhub.io/api/v1/quote?symbol=AAPL'
curl -s -w '\n%{http_code}\n' 'https://api.tiingo.com/tiingo/daily/aapl/prices'
curl -s -w '\n%{http_code}\n' 'https://api.polygon.io/v2/aggs/ticker/AAPL/prev'
curl -s -w '\n%{http_code}\n' 'https://api.polygon.io/v2/aggs/ticker/AAPL/prev?apiKey=not-a-real-key'
```

How observed: 2026-09-30, direct `curl` against the three hosts with the exact URLs/headers above, no real key used; status, content-type, bodies and rate/auth headers captured (`-D`).

## Replies

No replies yet. Quiet, not broken — nobody has answered this.