Documentation

Getting Started

Quick Start Steps

1Create a Strava account (if you don't have one)
2Register your application on Strava
3Get your Client ID and Client Secret
4Make your first API request

Step 1: Create a Strava Account

If you don't already have a Strava account, you'll need to create one first. Visit strava.com/register to sign up. A free account is all you need to start developing.

Step 2: Register Your Application

Navigate to the Strava API Settings page and click "Create & Manage Your App" or fill out the application form directly.

Required Information

Application Name: A unique name for your app (shown to users during authorization)
Category: Select the category that best describes your app
Club: Optional - associate your app with a Strava club
Website: Your app's website URL
Application Description: Brief description of what your app does
Authorization Callback Domain: The domain Strava will redirect to after authorization. Use localhost for development.

Tip: For local development, set the callback domain to localhost. You'll update this to your production domain when you deploy.

Step 3: Get Your API Credentials

After creating your app, you'll see your API credentials on the "My API Application" page:

Credential	Description
Client ID	Your application's unique identifier
Client Secret	Secret key for authentication (keep this secure!)
Access Token	Your personal token for testing (expires every 6 hours)
Refresh Token	Used to get new access tokens when they expire

Security Warning

Never expose your Client Secret or tokens in client-side code, public repositories, or logs. Always store credentials securely using environment variables.

Step 4: Make Your First API Request

Use the Access Token from your app settings to make a test request. This token only has access to your own data and is perfect for testing.

Using cURL

curl -X GET "https://www.strava.com/api/v3/athlete" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"

Using JavaScript (fetch)

const response = await fetch('https://www.strava.com/api/v3/athlete', {
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'
  }
});

const athlete = await response.json();
console.log(athlete);

Using Python (requests)

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://www.strava.com/api/v3/athlete',
    headers={'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'}
)

athlete = response.json()
print(athlete)

Example Response

{
  "id": 12345678,
  "username": "athlete_username",
  "firstname": "John",
  "lastname": "Doe",
  "city": "San Francisco",
  "state": "California",
  "country": "United States",
  "sex": "M",
  "premium": true,
  "created_at": "2015-03-21T18:04:07Z",
  "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "profile": "https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/...",
  "profile_medium": "https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/..."
}

Next Steps

Now that you've made your first API request, here's what to learn next: