Skip to main content

Authentication

We may use specific AuthenticationMethod when calling KaggleClient.Authenticate(). Given an instantiated KaggleClient, we can call Authenticate() as many times as we need on the same client.

By default, the method parameter is set to AuthenticationMethod.Auto. Internally, the client iterates through each AuthenticationMethod in order, then stops at (and returns) the successful AuthenticationMethod.

AuthenticationMethod is prioritized top to bottom as follows:

We examine each authentication method:

AuthenticationMethod.Direct​

Authenticate our client using only username and key from the provided configuration.

  • Usage:
var config = new KaggleConfiguration { username = "YourUsername", key = "YourKey" };

var api = new KaggleClient();
api.Authenticate(config, method: AuthenticationMethod.Direct);

AuthenticationMethod.File​

Authenticate our client using only the filename parameter in KaggleClient.Authenticate(). filename is the path to a .json file under this schema: {"username": string, "key": string}

  • Suppose a file kaggle.json. The content of kaggle.json should be {"username": "petterpet", "key": "mytotallyrandomkey"}

  • Usage:

var api = new KaggleClient();
AuthenticationMethod method = api.Authenticate(
    filename: @"kaggle.json",
    method: AuthenticationMethod.File
);

AuthenticationMethod.Environment​

Authenticate our client using only two environment variables of KAGGLE_USERNAME and KAGGLE_KEY. Under the hood, our client calls 

Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("KAGGLE_USERNAME") //or "KAGGLE_KEY"

to get the username and key

  • Usage:
// Assign the environment variable at some place
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("KAGGLE_USERNAME", "YourUsername");
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("KAGGLE_KEY", "YourKey");

var api = new KaggleClient();
AuthenticationMethod method = api.Authenticate(method: AuthenticationMethod.Environment);

AuthenticationMethod.User​

Authenticate our client using only kaggle.json. Similar to AuthenticationMethod.File, but the containing directory is defined as follows:

  • First, retrieve and use the directory given as the KAGGLE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable (if defined).
  • If no KAGGLE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable is set beforehand, use {UserProfile_Directory}/.kaggle/, where {UserProfile_Directory} is
Environment.SpecialFolder.UserProfile

After obtaining a valid path to our kaggle.json file, the client authenticates similarly to AuthenticationMethod.File.

  • Usage:
// (Optional) assign the environment variable
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("KAGGLE_CONFIG_DIR", "@D:/KaggleNET/");

var api = new KaggleClient();
AuthenticationMethod method = api.Authenticate(method: AuthenticationMethod.User);