Zerodha Kite Connect: get your API key and refresh the token daily

27 September 20262 min readBy NineFifteenAM

A short, practical guide to getting a Kite Connect API key and handling the access token that expires every morning.

Short answer

Sign up at developers.kite.trade, create an app to get your API key and secret, and pay ₹500/month if you need market data. The access token expires at 6 AM every day, so you need to log in again each trading morning, either by hand or with a scheduled script.

Getting a Kite Connect API key takes ten minutes. The part that catches everyone is that the access token expires every day at 6 AM. Here's how to handle both.

Step 1: Get your API key

Sign up at developers.kite.trade/signup. This is separate from your normal Kite login.
Choose a plan:

Plan	Cost	What you get
Personal	Free	Place orders, view positions, holdings and funds
Connect	₹500/month	Everything above, plus live and historical market data

Go to My Apps → Create New App and fill in your app name, Zerodha Client ID and a redirect URL (http://127.0.0.1:8000 works for personal use).
You'll get an API key and API secret. Keep the secret private, like a password.

Step 2: Understand the daily token

Credential	Lasts
API key and secret	Until you regenerate them
Access token	Until 6 AM the next day

Every API call needs a valid access token, so you need a new one each trading day.

Step 3: Refresh the token each morning

By hand:

Open https://kite.zerodha.com/connect/login?v=3&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY and log in.
Copy the request_token from the URL you're redirected to.
Exchange it for an access token:

from kiteconnect import KiteConnect

kite = KiteConnect(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
data = kite.generate_session("REQUEST_TOKEN", api_secret="YOUR_API_SECRET")
kite.set_access_token(data["access_token"])

Automatically:

Most people script the login so they don't have to do it every morning. The script generates your 2FA code from your TOTP secret (using the pyotp library), completes the login, grabs the request_token and exchanges it as above. Schedule it to run every weekday before market open.

Stay safe

Never share or publish your API secret, password or TOTP secret. Anyone with them can access your account.
Keep secrets out of your code and out of any public repository.
Have a manual backup. Automated logins can break if Zerodha changes its login page.

Sources

Questions people ask me

Why does my access token stop working every day?

Zerodha expires every Kite Connect access token at 6 AM the next day. It's a regulatory rule, so there's no way to keep one alive longer.

Is Kite Connect free?

Placing orders and reading your positions and holdings is free. Live and historical market data costs ₹500/month per API key.

What's the difference between the API key and the access token?

The API key and secret identify your app and don't change. The access token comes from a fresh login and expires every morning.

zerodhakite connectbroker apiaccess tokengetting started

NineFifteenAM

One trader building an options bot for Indian index markets since early 2026. I write down how it is built, what broke, and what it cost — no tips, no calls, no returns.