My GitHub Actions build for Azure Static Web Apps completes and uploads, but the deploy step fails with ‘Invalid API key’ even though AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN is set?

Question

My GitHub Actions build for Azure Static Web Apps completes and uploads, but the deploy step fails with ‘Invalid API key’ even though AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN is set?

Priyanka Kugapriya 20

Error code - Deployment Failed :( Deployment Failure Reason: Invalid API key

Anonymous

2025-08-29T08:35:24.6233333+00:00
Hi Priyanka Kugapriya

Thank you for posting your question on Microsoft Q&A.

From your description, it seems that your GitHub Actions build for Azure Static Web Apps is completing successfully, but the deployment step is failing with the error "Invalid API key" even though the AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN secret is set.

This usually happens if the deployment token is either missing, expired, or not properly referenced in the workflow file. Please try the following steps:

Verify the Deployment Token

In the Azure Portal, navigate to your Static Web App.

Go to Manage Deployment Token and copy the token.

Update the Secret in GitHub

In GitHub, go to your repository Settings > Security > Actions > Repository secrets.

Update the secret named AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN with the new token value.

Confirm Workflow Reference: Ensure your GitHub Actions workflow file references the secret correctly. For example: azure_static_web_apps_api_token: ${{ secrets.AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN }} After updating the token and workflow reference, re-run the pipeline to confirm if the deployment succeeds. For more details, you can refer to the official documentation here:
Priyanka Kugapriya 20 Reputation points

2025-08-30T00:57:08.9166667+00:00
Hi, thank you for your response.

I appreciate you taking the time to provide these troubleshooting steps. Unfortunately, I had already gone through all of these, including generating and updating the deployment token, and they did not resolve my specific issue. This seems to be the most common answer available online, but it wasn't the root cause of my problem.

For anyone else who is still facing this issue, here is the full solution that finally worked for me, as it was a two-part problem.

Part 1: The "Invalid API Key" Error

The Invalid API key error was not caused by a bad or expired token. The issue was with the initial setup of the Azure Static Web App itself.

The Fix: When creating the new Static Web App, instead of linking it directly to GitHub, I chose the Deployment token option. This created a new token that, when used in the GitHub Actions workflow file, allowed the deployment to proceed without any token errors.

Part 2: The "Web app warm up timed out" Error

After fixing the token issue, I encountered a new error: Deployment Failure Reason: Web app warm up timed out.. This was also a common issue with Next.js projects on Azure.

Root Cause: My Next.js app was configured for server-side rendering (SSR) using rewrites and an output location of .next. Azure Static Web Apps is a static hosting service, and it couldn't properly start the server-side part of the app.

The Fixes: To solve this, I had to make three key changes to convert my app into a fully static site:

Change next.config.ts: Added output: 'export' and removed the rewrites to tell Next.js to generate a static site.

**Update GitHub Actions:** Changed the `output_location` in the workflow YAML file from `.next` to `out`. **Change API Calls:** Updated my frontend code to use an environment variable (`NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL`) to directly call my live Azure App Service backend, as `rewrites` no longer work.

I hope this explanation helps anyone else who runs into this frustrating problem.

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Anonymous

2025-08-29T08:35:24.6233333+00:00

Hi Priyanka Kugapriya

Thank you for posting your question on Microsoft Q&A.

From your description, it seems that your GitHub Actions build for Azure Static Web Apps is completing successfully, but the deployment step is failing with the error "Invalid API key" even though the AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN secret is set.

This usually happens if the deployment token is either missing, expired, or not properly referenced in the workflow file. Please try the following steps:

Verify the Deployment Token

In the Azure Portal, navigate to your Static Web App.

Go to Manage Deployment Token and copy the token.

Update the Secret in GitHub

In GitHub, go to your repository Settings > Security > Actions > Repository secrets.

Update the secret named AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN with the new token value.

Confirm Workflow Reference: Ensure your GitHub Actions workflow file references the secret correctly. For example: azure_static_web_apps_api_token: ${{ secrets.AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN }} After updating the token and workflow reference, re-run the pipeline to confirm if the deployment succeeds. For more details, you can refer to the official documentation here:

Answer 1

Hi @Priyanka Kugapriya

I'm glad that you were able to resolve your issue and thank you for posting your solution so that others experiencing the same thing can easily reference this!