/kaggle

Kaggle Account & API Setup Guide

Step-by-step instructions for creating a Kaggle account, generating API credentials, and configuring them for use with any OpenClaw-compatible agent (Claude Code, Antigravity CLI (agy), Hermes, Cursor, etc.).

1. Create a Kaggle Account

1. Go to https://www.kaggle.com/account/login
2. Click Register (or sign in with Google/GitHub if you prefer)
3. Fill in:
   • Email: your email address
   • Password: choose a strong password
   • Username: choose a username (this becomes your Kaggle handle, e.g., yourname)
4. Click Create Account
5. Verify your email by clicking the link Kaggle sends you

Persona Verification (Required for Some Features)

Kaggle requires phone verification to:

• Submit to competitions
• Use GPU/TPU accelerators
• Download some restricted datasets

To verify:

1. Go to https://www.kaggle.com/settings
2. Under Phone Verification, click Verify
3. Enter your phone number and the SMS code

2. Generate Your API Credentials

Primary: API Token (Recommended)

1. Go to https://www.kaggle.com/settings
2. Scroll to the API section
3. Under API Tokens (Recommended), click Generate New Token
4. Name the token (e.g., "claude-code") and copy the generated value
5. This single token works with kaggle CLI (>= 1.8.0), kagglehub (>= 0.4.1), and MCP Server

Note: Creating a new token does not expire existing tokens or legacy keys. You can create multiple named tokens for different tools/projects.

Optional: Legacy API Key

Only needed for older tool versions (kaggle CLI < 1.8.0, kagglehub < 0.4.1):

1. Go to https://www.kaggle.com/settings
2. Under Legacy API Credentials, click Create Legacy API Key
3. A kaggle.json file downloads containing {"username":"...","key":"..."}

Warning: Creating a legacy key expires any existing legacy keys.

3. Install Your Credentials

Method 1: Access Token File (Recommended)

Save your API token to the Kaggle config directory:

mkdir -p ~/.kaggle
echo '<your_token>' > ~/.kaggle/access_token
chmod 600 ~/.kaggle/access_token

Method 2: Environment Variable

export KAGGLE_API_TOKEN='<your_token>'

Or add to your shell profile (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc) for persistence.

Method 3: .env File (Project-Level)

Create a .env file in your project root:

KAGGLE_API_TOKEN=<your_token>

Important: Add .env to your .gitignore:

echo ".env" >> .gitignore

Secure the file:

chmod 600 .env

Method 4: kaggle.json File (Legacy)

If you created a legacy API key, place the downloaded kaggle.json:

mkdir -p ~/.kaggle
mv ~/Downloads/kaggle.json ~/.kaggle/kaggle.json
chmod 600 ~/.kaggle/kaggle.json

Note: kaggle.json only stores username + legacy key. For the API token, use Methods 1-3.

4. Verify Your Setup

Using the Setup Checker

python3 modules/setup/scripts/check_registration.py

Expected output when credentials are configured:

[OK] KAGGLE_API_TOKEN: ****abcd (from access_token file)
[OK] KAGGLE_USERNAME: your_username (from kaggle.json)
[OK] KAGGLE_KEY: ****wxyz (from kaggle.json) [legacy]

All credentials found. You're ready to go!

Manual Verification

# Test with kaggle CLI
kaggle datasets list --search "titanic" --page 1

# Test with kagglehub
python3 -c "import kagglehub; print(kagglehub.whoami())"

5. Credential Priority Order

When multiple credential sources exist, they are checked in this order:

6. Common Misconfigurations

Troubleshooting