You are using [the "Javascript SDK"(sic)][1] and that's not how it works. The [doc page][1] calls the SDK "small and minimalistic". [The source code][2] states: > This file is provided to API clients to automate various tasks, **initially focused on login**. In fact the SDK really only does one thing. It helps you get an `access_token` if you need to authenticate. It doesn't help with anything else right now, nor has it ever. **To take advantage of your key, you need to pass it in every API call.** For example, compare: - [api.stackexchange.com/2.2/users/1?site=stackoverflow][3] (has 300 quota) and - [api.stackexchange.com/2.2/users/1?site=stackoverflow&key=Pw9D)judG8FE4tJR3qjUTA((][4] (has 10K quota) Also, I recommend to [use a filter][5]. [1]: https://api.stackexchange.com/docs/js-lib [2]: https://dev.sstatic.net/apiv2/js/all.js [3]: https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/users/1?site=stackoverflow&filter=!T6o*9_naf.jY-3uDW. [4]: https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/users/1?site=stackoverflow&key=Pw9D)judG8FE4tJR3qjUTA((&filter=!T6o*9_naf.jY-3uDW. [5]: http://stackapps.com/questions/4490/how-to-strip-out-certain-fields-from-the-stack-exchange-api-json-response