In the <a target="_blank" href="https://colab.research.google.com/github/cohere-ai/notebooks/blob/main/notebooks/Embed_Endpoint_Colab.ipynb">Cohere Google Colab notebook</a>, you will notice that the API key is hardcoded.
<pre><code class="lang-plaintext"># Setup the Cohere client
api_key = 'api_key' # Paste your API key here. Remember to not share it publicly
co = cohere.Client(api_key)
</code></pre>
When I saved this on GitHub, I knew I was hardcoding the key. Saving the API key in plain sight within the Cohere Google Colab notebook poses a security risk, especially when saving the code on GitHub.
<pre><code class="lang-plaintext">from getpass import getpass
token = getpass('Enter token here')
co = cohere.Client(token)
</code></pre>
getpass module provides an ability to prompt the user for a value, usually a password, without echoing what they type to the console.
The above code helps you to type in the API key on runtime. The user-entered input is saved in var.
I hope you find this insightful.

In the [Cohere Google Colab notebook](https://colab.research.google.com/github/cohere-ai/notebooks/blob/main/notebooks/Embed_Endpoint_Colab.ipynb), you will notice that the API key is hardcoded.

```plaintext
# Setup the Cohere client
api_key = 'api_key' # Paste your API key here. Remember to not share it publicly
co = cohere.Client(api_key)
```

When I saved this on GitHub, I knew I was hardcoding the key. Saving the API key in plain sight within the Cohere Google Colab notebook poses a security risk, especially when saving the code on GitHub.

```plaintext
from getpass import getpass
token = getpass('Enter token here')
co = cohere.Client(token)
```

***getpass*** module provides an ability to prompt the user for a value, usually a password, without echoing what they type to the console.

The above code helps you to type in the API key on runtime. The user-entered input is saved in *var.*

I hope you find this insightful.

Ensuring API_KEY Security in Google Colab Notebooks