Quickstart

Get from zero to live data in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

• An API key — request one here
• curl, or your language of choice (Node 18+, Python 3.9+, Go 1.21+)

Step 1 — Save your API key

Export it as an environment variable so you don't commit it to git:

export SPORTAPI_KEY="sk_test_xxxxxxxxxxxx"

Step 2 — Make your first request

Fetch tonight's live NBA scores:

curl "https://api.sportapi.io/v1/nba/scores/live" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SPORTAPI_KEY"

In Node.js (with the SDK):

import { Sportapi } from '@sportapi/node';
const client = new Sportapi(process.env.SPORTAPI_KEY);

const games = await client.nba.scores.live();
console.log(games);

In Python:

from sportapi import Client
client = Client(api_key=os.environ["SPORTAPI_KEY"])

games = client.nba.scores.live()
print(games)

In Go:

import "github.com/sportapi/sportapi-go"

client := sportapi.NewClient(os.Getenv("SPORTAPI_KEY"))
games, err := client.NBA.Scores.Live(ctx)

Step 3 — Parse the response

You'll get back JSON like this:

{
  "games": [
    {
      "game_id": "0022500412",
      "status": "in_progress",
      "period": 3,
      "clock": "07:42",
      "home": { "team": "BOS", "score": 78 },
      "away": { "team": "LAL", "score": 71 },
      "last_play": "J. Tatum makes 3-pt jumper from 25 ft",
      "updated_at": "2025-11-14T03:42:18Z"
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "count": 1, "request_id": "req_8f3a2b1c" }
}

Every response includes a meta.request_id — include it when you contact support and we can trace the exact request in our logs.

Step 4 — Subscribe to live updates

Polling every few seconds works for many apps, but for true live UX use the WebSocket stream — same auth, lower latency, no rate-limit overhead:

const ws = client.stream();
ws.subscribe('nba.scores.live');
ws.on('update', game => {
  console.log('Score update:', game);
});

Next steps

• Browse the API reference for every endpoint
• Read authentication for production key management
• Learn rate-limit behavior and the recommended retry pattern
• Set up error handling — every error has a code and a retry hint