diff --git a/tools/src/hwlab-cli-lib.ts b/tools/src/hwlab-cli-lib.ts
index 04c49b15..fced5787 100644
--- a/tools/src/hwlab-cli-lib.ts
+++ b/tools/src/hwlab-cli-lib.ts
@@ -153,6 +153,14 @@ async function authCommand(context: any) {
   if (subcommand === "login") return authLogin(context);
   if (subcommand === "status") return authStatus(context);
   if (subcommand === "profiles") return authProfiles(context);
+  if (subcommand === "whoami") {
+    const response = await requestJson({ ...context, method: "GET", path: "/v1/users/me" });
+    return responsePayload("client.auth.whoami", response, context, {
+      route: route("GET", "/v1/users/me"),
+      actor: response.body?.actor ?? null,
+      authMethod: response.body?.authMethod ?? null
+    });
+  }
   if (subcommand === "session") {
     const localSession = sessionStateSummary(await readSessionState({ parsed: context.parsed, env: context.env, cwd: context.cwd ?? process.cwd() }));
     const response = await requestJson({ ...context, method: "GET", path: "/auth/session" });
@@ -173,6 +181,7 @@ function authHelp() {
     commands: [
       "login --username USER --password-env HWLAB_PASSWORD [--profile NAME]",
       "status [--profile NAME]",
+      "whoami",
       "session [--profile NAME]",
       "profiles",
       "logout [--profile NAME]"
@@ -183,11 +192,13 @@ function authHelp() {
 async function authStatus(context: any) {
   const endpoint = runtimeEndpoint(context.parsed, context.env, "web");
   const localSession = sessionStateSummary(await readSessionState({ parsed: context.parsed, env: context.env, cwd: context.cwd ?? process.cwd() }));
+  const apiKey = explicitApiKey(context.parsed, context.env);
   return ok("client.auth.status", {
     baseUrl: endpoint.baseUrl,
     runtimeEndpoint: runtimeEndpointVisibility(endpoint),
     stateFile: localSession.stateFile,
     localSession,
+    apiKey: apiKey ? { source: "env-or-explicit", prefix: apiKeyPrefixSummary(apiKey) } : { source: null, prefix: null },
     nextCommands: authNextCommands({ baseUrl: endpoint.baseUrl, username: text(context.parsed.username ?? context.env.HWLAB_USERNAME) || "admin", stateFile: localSession.stateFile })
   });
 }
@@ -1711,6 +1722,25 @@ async function requestJson(context: any) {
   const timer = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), requestTimeoutMs);
   try {
     const effectiveAuth = auth && parsed.noAuth !== true;
+    const apiKey = effectiveAuth ? explicitApiKey(parsed, env) : "";
+    if (apiKey) {
+      const response = await sendJsonRequest({ context, url, method, body, apiKey, extraHeaders, signal: controller.signal, pathName, timeoutMs: requestTimeoutMs });
+      const authState = {
+        required: effectiveAuth,
+        baseUrl: resolvedBaseUrl,
+        username: null,
+        stateFile: null,
+        localSession: null,
+        cookieSource: null,
+        apiKeySource: "env-or-explicit",
+        apiKeyPrefix: apiKeyPrefixSummary(apiKey),
+        autoLoginAttempted: false,
+        autoLoginStatus: null,
+        autoLoginHttpStatus: null,
+        retryAfterLogin: false
+      };
+      return { ...response, runtimeEndpoint: endpoint, auth: authVisibility(authState), authDiagnosis: authDiagnosis(response, authState) };
+    }
     const explicitCookie = explicitAuthCookie(parsed, env);
     const sessionState = effectiveAuth && !explicitCookie && parsed.noSession !== true
       ? await readSessionState({ parsed, env, cwd: cwd ?? process.cwd() })
@@ -1758,10 +1788,11 @@ async function requestJson(context: any) {
   }
 }
 
-async function sendJsonRequest({ context, url, method, body, cookie, extraHeaders, signal, pathName, timeoutMs }: any) {
+async function sendJsonRequest({ context, url, method, body, cookie, apiKey, extraHeaders, signal, pathName, timeoutMs }: any) {
   const headers = clean({
     accept: "application/json",
     ...(body ? { "content-type": "application/json" } : {}),
+    ...(apiKey ? { authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}` } : {}),
     ...(cookie ? { cookie } : {}),
     ...extraHeaders
   });
@@ -1875,6 +1906,20 @@ function explicitAuthCookie(parsed: ParsedArgs, env: EnvLike) {
   return explicit ? explicit.includes("=") ? explicit : `hwlab_session=${encodeURIComponent(explicit)}` : null;
 }
 
+const HWLAB_API_KEY_PREFIX = "hwl_live_";
+function explicitApiKey(parsed: ParsedArgs, env: EnvLike) {
+  const explicit = text(parsed.apiKey ?? parsed.bearerToken ?? env.HWLAB_API_KEY ?? env.HWLAB_BEARER_TOKEN);
+  if (!explicit) return "";
+  if (explicit.startsWith(HWLAB_API_KEY_PREFIX)) return explicit;
+  return "";
+}
+function apiKeyPrefixSummary(secret) {
+  const text = String(secret ?? "");
+  if (!text) return "";
+  if (text.length <= 12) return text;
+  return `${text.slice(0, 12)}\u2026`;
+}
+
 function autoAuthAllowed(parsed: ParsedArgs) {
   return parsed.noAuth !== true && parsed.noAutoAuth !== true;
 }
@@ -2022,6 +2067,8 @@ function authVisibility(authState: any) {
     cookieSource: authState.cookieSource,
     stateFile: authState.stateFile,
     localSession: authState.localSession,
+    apiKeySource: authState.apiKeySource,
+    apiKeyPrefix: authState.apiKeyPrefix,
     autoLoginAttempted: authState.autoLoginAttempted,
     autoLoginStatus: authState.autoLoginStatus,
     autoLoginHttpStatus: authState.autoLoginHttpStatus,
@@ -2032,6 +2079,17 @@ function authVisibility(authState: any) {
 function authDiagnosis(response: any, authState: any) {
   if (!authState?.required) return null;
   if (response.status !== 401 && response.status !== 403) return null;
+  if (response.status === 401 && authState.apiKeySource) {
+    return {
+      code: "api_key_invalid",
+      status: "unauthorized",
+      message: "HWLAB_API_KEY was rejected by the cloud-api; regenerate the key with `client auth default` or check that the env value matches the one shown in the Web API key page.",
+      httpStatus: response.status,
+      apiKeySource: authState.apiKeySource,
+      apiKeyPrefix: authState.apiKeyPrefix,
+      nextCommands: ["bun tools/hwlab-cli/bin/hwlab-cli.ts client request POST /v1/api-keys -H 'content-type: application/json' --body '{\"name\":\"rotated\"}' --help"]
+    };
+  }
   if (response.status === 403) {
     return {
       code: "auth_forbidden",