Connecting Your Server

2 min readUpdated Feb 26, 2026

Before you start

You need two things. A Pink Narwhal account (you probably have one if you are reading this) and your Pterodactyl or Pelican client API key.

Important

The client API key is not the same as the application API key. They look similar. They are not. The client key lives in your account settings in the panel, not the admin area.

Finding your client API key

  1. Log into your Pterodactyl or Pelican panel
  2. Click your username in the top-right corner
  3. Go to API Credentials
  4. Create a new API key with a description like "Pink Narwhal"
  5. Copy the key immediately. You will only see it once.

The key starts with ptlc_. If yours does not, you are looking at the wrong key.

Setting up your panel connection

Before adding any servers, you need to tell Pink Narwhal where your panel is.

  1. Go to your Pink Narwhal dashboard
  2. Open Settings
  3. Paste your panel URL (something like https://panel.example.com)
  4. Paste your client API key
  5. Save both

Adding your first server

  1. Head to Servers and click Add Server
  2. Pink Narwhal will pull your server list from the panel
  3. Select the server you want to back up

Pink Narwhal scans the server's files and automatically detects which game is running. If it recognizes the game, it assigns a Smart Profile with optimized backup paths. If it cannot figure out what you are running, it asks you to build a custom profile by selecting folders manually.

Either way, you are covered.

What happens next

Once connected, your first backup runs within the hour (at whatever minute your schedule is set to). You can check the status from your dashboard. Backups are stored in Cloudflare R2 and retained according to your plan.

Tip

You do not need admin access to your panel. Pink Narwhal works with the player-level file API, so it works with any hosting provider that runs Pterodactyl or Pelican.

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