# Request Preparation

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This step assumes you have successfully authenticated your API credentials using [Authentication](/developer-guides/step-by-step-guide/authentication.md)
{% endhint %}

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This step is not strictly required if you are using our Postman collection as request signatures, content digests and idempotency keys are generated automatically on every request provided that correct variables are set in your Postman environment.
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Now that you can make authenticated requests to the API, you need to prepare your requests to be processed successfully by our API.

First, you need to sign your requests with HTTP message signatures and include content digest header for requests with request body. To do so, please follow [Request Signatures](/developer-guides/api-integration/request-signatures.md) guide where you can find details on how to generate signing key pairs and set up our API so that your public key is recognised by us.

Second, for all modification requests (`POST`, `PUT`, `PATCH` and `DELETE`) you need to provide a unique idempotency key to avoid duplicated processing of requests due to networking issues. To do so, please follow [Idempotency](/developer-guides/api-integration/idempotency.md)guide.


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