Skip to content
Docs
Developers

Design handoff keys (older setup)

Before account API keys, each design had its own handoff key. Handoff keys stop working on 15 December 2026, the day API v1 is retired, and API v2 never accepts them. Use an API key instead: one key covers every design in your workspace.

Move to an API key

  1. Create an API key with Read and Send work back. See API keys.
  2. Set up your app with the key. See Connect your agent.
  3. Remove DESIGNFLOW_HANDOFF_KEY from your MCP config and environment.
  4. Move your calls from /api/v1 to /api/v2. See Migrating to API v2.

How the older setup works

Until 15 December 2026, the v1 design routes and the design-scoped tools under their older names (get_design_handoff, get_design_prompt_pack, import_design_artifacts, finish_external_design) accept the design's own handoff key, a Bearer token the design owner shares with you. Pass it per call as the handoffKey argument, or set it once as DESIGNFLOW_HANDOFF_KEY with the older package (brandpilot-mcp@0): version 1.0.0 no longer reads the key. Their v2 names (get_design_context, get_design_brief, import_design_work, finish_design_import) take an API key only.

Older MCP config
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brandpilot": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "brandpilot-mcp@0"],
      "env": {
        "DESIGNFLOW_HANDOFF_KEY": "your-design-handoff-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Responses to a handoff key carry Deprecation and Sunset: Tue, 15 Dec 2026 00:00:00 GMT headers until the key stops working.