# Service accounts A service account is a special type of Appfarm account to represent a non-human user. A service account enables such a user to be authenticated and authorized to access data and run services. Service accounts are used to allow external applications to run a service, for schedules to trigger a service, and for [unauthenticated access](/how-to/authentication-and-access-control/unauthenticated-access.md). The use of a service account ensures automated and anonymous interactions with your solution remain secure and traceable. A service account can be assigned [roles](/reference/security/roles.md) in the same way that a [user](/reference/security/users.md) can. If a service account will access a service, that access must be granted under **Permissions** > **Services**. When authentication is required, for example when an external service is calling an API, you can generate [API keys](/reference/security/service-accounts.md#api-keys) for a service account. The API key must then be included as a token when sending the request. If you want to learn how to use API keys when third parties integrate towards Appfarm - please read more [here](/how-to/integrations/integrate-with-external-systems.md#integrate-from-a-third-party-system-to-appfarm). When an app is configured for unauthenticated access a service account is used to represent the anonymous users. This is required in order to define which [permissions](/reference/security/permissions.md) those users have. The permissions are granted to one or more roles assigned to the service account. ## Properties

Property	Description
Name	Used as a reference across Appfarm Create.
Roles	One or more roles to assigned to the service account.
Description	A longer description of the service account. For your own reference.

## API keys Click a service account in the list to view and create API keys for that account. A key is generated and displayed only once. Appfarm has no way to recover the key for you if you lose it. If a secret key is lost or compromised, you should delete it and generate a new one.

Property	Description
Name	A unique name for the key.
Expire Date	A date on which the key will expire. If a date is not set the key will be valid indefinitely.
Inactivity Expiration	The duration in seconds that an API key can remain unused before it automatically expires. Minimum value: 3600 seconds (1 hour).
Services	The services the key can access. Note that the service account for this key must also have a role with the required permissions for the services and the data that the services are processing.
GraphQL	Enable access to the solution's GraphQL endpoint.

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