Kite Connect on WebNotes

How to authenticate Kite Connect with TOTP automation

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Algo trading scripts need a fresh access_token every morning before market open. The standard Kite Connect authentication flow requires opening a browser, completing the Zerodha login, and pasting the request_token. For unattended or server-based strategies, that manual step is a bottleneck. This guide shows how to automate the entire login using pyotp to generate the TOTP code, eliminating the need for any browser interaction.

How TOTP automation works

The standard Kite Connect login involves three steps at Zerodha’s end: submit client ID and password, then submit a TOTP OTP, after which Zerodha redirects to your registered URL with a request_token. A browser performs these steps interactively. Automation replaces the browser with a requests.Session that sends the same HTTP POST calls, and replaces the TOTP app with pyotp.TOTP(secret).now() to generate the current OTP.

How to deploy a Streak strategy on Zerodha

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Streak is a no-code algorithmic trading platform that integrates with Zerodha’s Kite Connect API to execute live trading strategies based on technical conditions defined in its visual strategy builder. Deploying a Streak strategy on Zerodha moves a strategy from paper simulation or backtest mode to live market execution, where the platform automatically places buy and sell orders in your Zerodha account when entry and exit conditions are met. This guide covers the deployment flow, the required Kite Connect authorisation, parameter configuration, and live monitoring.

How to generate a Kite Connect API key

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Kite Connect API requires a valid api_key and api_secret pair to authenticate every session and API call. These credentials are issued by Zerodha’s developer console at kite.trade after you register an app and subscribe to the Kite Connect service. This guide walks through every step of that process.

Why Kite Connect requires an API key

Kite Connect authenticates API clients using a two-credential model: the api_key (an identifier, safe to share with users of your app) and the api_secret (a private signing credential that must never be exposed). Every authenticated session begins with the OAuth-style login flow that uses both credentials to produce a short-lived access_token. The api_key also governs which Zerodha client IDs your app is authorised to act for, and is the billing identifier that Zerodha uses to track subscription status and usage.

How to generate the request_token and access_token on Kite Connect

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Every Kite Connect API session requires a fresh access_token that is valid for the current trading day. Generating an access_token involves a two-step OAuth-style flow: the user logs in through Zerodha’s browser-based consent screen to obtain a request_token, and the server then exchanges that request_token, along with a cryptographic checksum, for an access_token. This guide explains both steps using the official kiteconnect Python SDK.

How the token flow works

Kite Connect’s authentication is modelled on OAuth 2.0 with a custom checksum step. The flow has three actors: your application, the user’s browser, and Zerodha’s API server.

How to migrate from Pi bridge to Kite Connect

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Zerodha Pi was Zerodha’s desktop trading terminal that included a bridge allowing algorithmic strategies written in AFL (AmiBroker Formula Language) or Excel macros to place orders programmatically via a COM/DDE interface. Zerodha discontinued Pi and the Pi bridge, directing users to the Kite Connect API as the supported replacement. This guide walks through every step of migrating a Pi bridge-based strategy to Kite Connect, with direct function-level equivalents and rewritten code examples.

How to place an order via the Kite Connect REST API

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Kite Connect API exposes a clean REST interface for order management that supports all major Indian exchanges and order types. Once you have a valid access_token (see How to generate the request_token and access_token), you can place, modify, and cancel orders programmatically using the kiteconnect Python SDK. This guide covers the full order-placement workflow, parameter reference, and production-grade error handling.

Order model in Kite Connect

Kite Connect organises every order placement call around four orthogonal dimensions.

How to renew a Kite Connect subscription

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Kite Connect API subscription costs Rs 2,000 per month plus GST and must remain active for your trading scripts to function. When the subscription lapses, whether due to insufficient Zerodha account balance, a failed payment, or deliberate cancellation, every API call immediately returns a 403 TokenException: Invalid API key or access token error. This guide explains how to check subscription status, renew promptly, and set up safeguards to prevent future lapses.

How to stream live ticks via Kite WebSocket

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Kite Connect API provides a binary WebSocket feed for real-time market data through a class called KiteTicker in the kiteconnect Python SDK. Unlike the REST endpoints, which are request-response, KiteTicker maintains a persistent connection and pushes price updates as they occur. This guide explains how to establish that connection, subscribe to instruments, decode ticks, and handle network interruptions reliably.

How the KiteTicker WebSocket works

Kite Connect’s WebSocket endpoint at wss://ws.kite.trade streams binary-encoded tick packets. Each packet contains price, volume, and depth data for one or more instruments. The KiteTicker class handles the binary decoding, connection lifecycle, and reconnection internally, so your application receives clean Python dictionaries.

How to use postback URLs on Kite Connect

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Kite Connect API includes a postback (webhook) mechanism that pushes order update notifications to your server the moment an order changes state. Instead of polling GET /orders repeatedly, your server receives an HTTP POST at the registered postback URL each time an order moves from OPEN to COMPLETE, REJECTED, CANCELLED, or any intermediate state. This guide covers registration, checksum verification, a Python server implementation, and production hardening.

What is a postback URL?

A postback URL is an HTTP POST endpoint you register in the Kite Connect developer console. Whenever an order placed through your app changes state at Zerodha’s OMS (Order Management System), Zerodha sends an HTTP POST request to your postback URL with the updated order details in the request body.

How to write a basic Python script using kiteconnect

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The kiteconnect Python SDK is the official client library for the Kite Connect API from Zerodha. It wraps every REST endpoint and the WebSocket tick stream into a clean, Pythonic interface. This guide takes you from a blank directory to a working script that authenticates with Kite Connect, fetches your portfolio, queries live market prices, and places a paper-trade-style order. By the end you will have a reusable project structure suitable as the foundation for any algo trading strategy.

Kite Connect API

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Kite Connect is the application programming interface (API) platform operated by Zerodha that exposes the order management, market data, portfolio, and account functions of Kite to third-party developers, fintech companies, and individual algorithmic traders. The API is accessible at api.kite.trade and documented at kite.trade/docs/connect/. Kite Connect is structured as a REST API for transactional operations and a binary WebSocket endpoint for real-time streaming market data.

Kite Connect is used to build algorithmic trading systems, portfolio analytics platforms, strategy backtesting tools, brokerage white-label applications, and research dashboards. Zerodha charges a monthly subscription fee for Kite Connect access, distinct from the zero-commission brokerage model for retail clients trading manually through Kite Web or Kite Mobile. As of 2024, Kite Connect has been integrated by hundreds of third-party fintech applications and by a large community of individual developers building personal trading systems. The Kite Connect ecosystem article covers the developer community, official client libraries, and marketplace in detail.

Kite Connect documentation and ecosystem

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Kite Connect ecosystem encompasses the developer documentation, official and community client libraries, partner marketplace, and the community of applications and developers built around Zerodha’s Kite Connect API. Since Kite Connect launched in 2016, the developer ecosystem has grown to include hundreds of third-party applications ranging from personal algorithmic trading scripts to commercially deployed fintech platforms serving thousands of end users.

This article covers the ecosystem’s documentation, official tooling, marketplace, and developer community. The technical architecture and API endpoint reference of Kite Connect itself are covered in the Kite Connect API article.

Kite Publisher (Zerodha embed widget)

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Kite Publisher is an embeddable order widget operated by Zerodha that allows third-party websites and content publishers to place a Kite-powered buy or sell button on their own web pages. When a visitor clicks the embedded Kite Publisher button, they are directed to a Kite order window pre-populated with the instrument, transaction type, and quantity specified by the publisher; if the visitor is logged into their Zerodha account, the order can be placed immediately.

Sensibull (options analytics platform)

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sensibull is an options analytics and strategy-building platform accessible at sensibull.com, developed by Sensibull Technologies Private Limited and integrated with Zerodha’s Kite platform via the Kite Connect API. Sensibull provides retail and semi-professional options traders with tools for analysing the NSE options market: option chain visualisation with real-time data, payoff diagram construction for multi-leg strategies, implied volatility (IV) surface analysis, Greeks computation, options strategy comparison, and position management analytics.

The platform is accessible within the Kite interface via the Option Chain link and as a standalone web application at sensibull.com. Multi-broker support was added in subsequent versions, allowing clients of Upstox, Angel One, HDFC Securities, and other brokers to use Sensibull, though the tightest integration remains with Zerodha.

Streak (no-code algorithmic trading platform)

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Streak is a no-code algorithmic trading and strategy automation platform accessible at streak.tech, developed by Streak Tech Private Limited and integrated with Zerodha’s Kite platform via the Kite Connect API. Streak enables retail traders without programming knowledge to create rule-based trading strategies using a visual condition builder, backtest them on historical market data, and deploy them for live automated execution against a Zerodha trading account.

The platform targets the segment of active traders who wish to systematise their trading rules without writing code in Python, Java, or other programming languages. By abstracting strategy logic into a graphical condition interface and connecting live execution to Kite Connect, Streak provides a no-code path to algorithmic trading within the regulatory constraints applicable to Indian retail brokerage.

Zerodha's open-source contributions

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

Zerodha has been among the most active contributors to open-source software among Indian financial services companies, publishing client libraries, data tools, infrastructure components, and configuration management tools under open-source licences on GitHub. The open-source programme serves multiple purposes: it supports the ecosystem of developers who build applications using the Kite Connect API, it signals technical credibility to the developer community, and it reflects the company’s stated philosophy of contributing to the broader technology community.