> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developers.neowit.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://developers.neowit.io/service-accounts/introduction.md).

# Introduction

## Overview

All programmatic interaction with our REST API is done using a logged-in Service Account. Once the client has been authenticated, the program interacting with the API will be able to perform operations as an administrator of the organization.

## Service Account vs User Account

There are two types of accounts available; the user and the service account. A user account represents a person, and requires an email and authentication that is suited for user authentication (password or *SSO* using *SAML*). A Service Account represents a program, and the authentication scheme is optimized for machine to machine authentication using `RS256` key pairs or legacy `HS256` shared secrets. Service Account keys can be rotated or configured with an expiration date.

The service account is bound to a single organization, while a user account can be bound to multiple organizations.