A Recurring Permission Review Routine for Your Bitget API Keys

API keys are the part of your Bitget account that keeps working while you are asleep, which is exactly why they deserve a calendar entry rather than a one-time setup. Most people create a key for a bot, a spreadsheet, or a portfolio tracker, grant a broad set of permissions because it is faster, and then never look at that key again. Months later nobody remembers which tool holds which key, or whether a retired script still has trading rights. This guide sets out a recurring review routine: a fixed interval, a short written record for each key, a comparison between what the key can do and what the connected tool genuinely needs, and clear stop conditions for pausing or deleting a key. Treat every interface detail below as something to confirm in your own account, since labels and layouts change; the help centre and the API documentation are the places to verify wording, permission names and current behaviour before you act.

Start a key register before you change anything

Before touching a single permission, write down what exists. Open the API management area of your account settings and list every key you can see, including ones you suspect are unused. For each key record four things: the label or note attached to it, the date it was created, which tool or script is supposed to use it, and the permissions currently granted. If the interface shows an IP restriction or a last-used indicator, copy that down too, because an old timestamp is strong evidence that a tool has been abandoned.

Keep this register somewhere outside the exchange, such as a plain text file or a password manager note. Do not paste the secret itself into the register; record only the key identifier, the label and the permissions. The register is what makes the next review fast, because you compare today's permissions against the row you wrote last time instead of trying to remember. If a key has no matching tool in your notes, that is already a finding worth acting on.

Decide the review interval now and put it in a calendar. A quarterly pass is workable for most people running one or two tools, and a monthly pass makes sense if you are actively editing scripts. The interval matters less than the fact that it is scheduled and that you finish the whole register in one sitting.

Match each key to the job it actually does

For every key in the register, open the tool that uses it and ask one question: which actions does this tool perform on my behalf? A read-only dashboard that displays balances needs only read access. A bot that places and cancels orders needs trading permission. A script that moves funds between accounts needs a different and much heavier permission, and many tools never need it at all. Write the answer next to the key in your register, in your own words, before you look at the permission list in the account.

Then compare the two columns. Where the key holds a permission the tool does not use, remove it. Where the tool fails after you remove something, you have learned that the permission was genuinely required, and you can note why. This two-step order matters: deciding from the tool first stops you from rationalising a broad permission just because it is already switched on. Withdrawal rights deserve particular scrutiny, because a read-only or trading tool almost never needs them, and an automation mistake combined with withdrawal rights is the scenario this routine exists to prevent.

If you are unsure whether a permission is needed for futures or margin style products, check the product documentation rather than guessing. Permission names in the interface do not always map obviously onto what a strategy does, and the documentation is the place to confirm what a given capability actually authorises.

Confirm the key still works, then confirm it still cannot do more

After trimming permissions, verify the tool still runs. Trigger the smallest action it normally performs and watch the result. A dashboard should refresh; an order-placing bot should be tested with the smallest size your setup allows, or in whatever practice mode the tool offers. If the tool reports a permission error, restore only the single permission it names, then test again. Record the outcome and the date in the register so the next review knows this configuration was validated.

Next, test the boundary from the other side. In the account, review the permission list once more and confirm that nothing you removed has reappeared and that no new key exists. If your tooling supports it, also confirm the IP restriction still matches where the tool runs from, since a moved server or a changed home connection can leave a restriction pointing at the wrong place. Treat any mismatch as a reason to pause the key until you understand it.

Finish by checking the key against the account-level protections you rely on. Two-factor authentication, passkeys and withdrawal address controls sit above the API layer, and they should be reviewed in the same session so you are not maintaining two separate security habits. The account settings area is where those controls live; confirm they are still configured the way you expect rather than assuming nothing changed.

Pause, delete and document the exceptions

Set explicit stop conditions in advance so the decision is not made under pressure. Pause or delete a key when its tool has been retired, when you cannot identify what uses it, when its permissions are broader than any tool you can name, when its last-used date is far older than your review interval, or when you notice activity you cannot explain. Deleting is the cleaner end state for a retired tool; pausing is the safer interim step while you investigate.

When you delete a key, remove its row from the register and note the deletion date, then confirm in the tool that it has stopped working. A tool that keeps running after you delete its key is a sign that it holds another credential you have forgotten about, which is itself a useful discovery. If a tool cannot function without a permission you are not comfortable granting, that is a legitimate reason to stop using the tool rather than to widen the key.

Finally, keep a short exceptions list for the keys you deliberately leave broader than the minimum, with the reason and the date you accepted it. Review that list at every pass and ask whether the reason still holds. This is also the moment to consult the fee page if you are trying to reconcile what a trading bot actually did with what it cost, since fee treatment can differ between order types and products, and the current schedule is the only reliable reference.

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Scenario checkpoint

• List every API key in the account with its label, creation date, permissions and the tool that uses it, and store the register outside the exchange without any secret values.
• For each key, write down what the connected tool actually does before looking at the permission list, then remove every permission the tool does not need.
• Re-test the tool with its smallest possible action after trimming permissions, and restore only the specific permission an error names.
• Confirm no removed permission has reappeared and no unknown key exists, and check that any IP restriction still matches where the tool runs from.
• Apply your stop conditions: pause or delete keys with no identifiable tool, unexplained activity, or a last-used date older than your review interval.
• Record the review date, the changes made and any deliberate exceptions, then schedule the next pass.