> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.thedatacity.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Quickstart
> Sign up and classify your first company in under five minutes.
This guide takes you from zero to a working classification in three steps.
## 1. Create an account
Sign up at [instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/signup](https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/signup). You need:
* A **work email address**. Consumer providers (Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo, iCloud, Proton) and known disposable-email domains are rejected.
* A **password** of 8–128 characters.
* To **accept the Terms & Conditions**. Signing up without this returns `422`.
New accounts start on the free tier with a limited request quota for evaluation. See [Rate limits & quotas](/instant-classification/guides/rate-limits) for details.
## 2. Get an access token
Exchange your email and password for a JWT using the token endpoint. The token is valid for **8 days**. Cache it rather than requesting one per call, because this endpoint is rate limited to 5 requests per minute.
```bash cURL theme={null}
curl -sS -X POST "https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/login/access-token" \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-d "username=you@yourcompany.com&password=YOUR_PASSWORD"
```
```python Python theme={null}
import httpx
resp = httpx.post(
"https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/login/access-token",
data={"username": "you@yourcompany.com", "password": "YOUR_PASSWORD"},
)
token = resp.json()["access_token"]
```
```javascript JavaScript theme={null}
const resp = await fetch(
"https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/login/access-token",
{
method: "POST",
headers: { "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" },
body: "username=you@yourcompany.com&password=YOUR_PASSWORD",
}
);
const { access_token } = await resp.json();
```
A successful response looks like this:
```json theme={null}
{
"access_token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
"token_type": "bearer"
}
```
Treat your access token like a password. Don't check it into source control or include it in frontend bundles.
## 3. Classify a company
Send a `POST` to `/api/v1/instantClassification` with either `Text` (a company description) **or** `Website` (a URL) — not both. Include your token in the `Authorization` header.
Send **one** of `Text` or `Website` per request. The API forwards both if you send both, which can produce unreliable results.
Set your client timeout to at least **120 seconds** on this endpoint. Classification can take over a minute when the engine is slow, because the API retries upstream before giving up. Most "API errors" reported to support turn out to be short client timeouts.
**Classify by description:**
```bash cURL theme={null}
curl -sS -X POST "https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/instantClassification" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"Text": "Software development and consulting services"}'
```
```python Python theme={null}
resp = httpx.post(
"https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/instantClassification",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
json={"Text": "Software development and consulting services"},
)
data = resp.json()
```
```javascript JavaScript theme={null}
const resp = await fetch(
"https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/instantClassification",
{
method: "POST",
headers: {
Authorization: `Bearer ${access_token}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
Text: "Software development and consulting services",
}),
}
);
const data = await resp.json();
```
**Or classify by website:**
```bash cURL theme={null}
curl -sS -X POST "https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/instantClassification" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"Website": "https://example.com"}'
```
```python Python theme={null}
resp = httpx.post(
"https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/instantClassification",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"},
json={"Website": "https://example.com"},
)
data = resp.json()
```
```javascript JavaScript theme={null}
const resp = await fetch(
"https://instant-classification-api.thedatacity.com/api/v1/instantClassification",
{
method: "POST",
headers: {
Authorization: `Bearer ${access_token}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({ Website: "https://example.com" }),
}
);
const data = await resp.json();
```
A successful response includes classifications across all taxonomies:
```json theme={null}
{
"RTICs": [
{
"Code": "10.01.01",
"Description": "Software Development",
"Score": 0.92,
"WordsMatched": 3
}
],
"RSICs": [
{
"Code": "62012",
"Description": "Business and domestic software development",
"Score": 0.88
}
],
"RNAICs": [
{
"Code": "541511",
"Description": "Custom Computer Programming Services",
"Score": 0.85
}
],
"SICs": [
{
"Code": "62012",
"Description": "Business and domestic software development"
}
],
"SimilarCompanies": [
{
"CompanyNumber": "12345678",
"CompanyName": "Example Software Ltd",
"Website": "https://example-software.co.uk",
"Similarity": 0.91
}
],
"TotalWordsProcessed": 5,
"ProcessingTimeMs": 342,
"Website": "https://example.com",
"Description": "Software development and consulting services"
}
```
## What's next
Token lifetime and password recovery.
What each error code means and how to handle it.
Free-tier quota and paid rate limits.
Full request/response schema with the interactive playground.