Cutshort API Quickstart – First API Call in 5 Minutes

This guide walks you through generating your first API key and making your first call to the Cutshort API. By the end, you will have searched for candidates by skill and received a JSON response with matching engineer profiles.

Create your Cutshort account

Sign up at cutshort.io. Once logged in, navigate to Settings → Integrations → API Keys to access your developer credentials.

Generate an API key

Click New API Key, give it a descriptive name (for example, My Integration), and copy the key immediately. Store it in a secure location such as a password manager or secrets vault — it will not be shown again.

Keep your API key secret. Never commit it to source control or expose it in client-side code. Treat it with the same care as a password.

Make your first API call

Call the candidates search endpoint to find Python engineers with at least 3 years of experience. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with the key you generated above.

curl -X GET 'https://api.cutshort.io/v1/candidates/search?skills=python&experience_min=3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json'

import requests

api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"
base_url = "https://api.cutshort.io/v1"

response = requests.get(
    f"{base_url}/candidates/search",
    params={"skills": "python", "experience_min": 3},
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"}
)

candidates = response.json()
print(f"Found {candidates['total']} candidates")
for c in candidates['data'][:3]:
    print(f"  - {c['name']} ({c['experience_years']} yrs, {c['location']})")

Review the response

A successful request returns a paginated JSON object containing matching candidate profiles:

{
  "total": 1842,
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 20,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "cand_8f3kL9mN",
      "name": "Aravind Srinivas",
      "headline": "Senior Python Engineer",
      "location": "Bengaluru",
      "experience_years": 5,
      "skills": ["Python", "Django", "PostgreSQL", "AWS"],
      "current_company": "Flipkart",
      "profile_url": "https://cutshort.io/candidate/aravind-srinivas"
    }
  ]
}

Next, explore the full Candidates Search API reference to filter by location, salary range, notice period, and more.

Cutshort API – What to Build & How the Platform Works

Cutshort API Authentication – API Keys & Bearer Tokens

⌘I

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

MCP Server

Cutshort API Quickstart – First API Call in 5 Minutes