diff --git a/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/ApiKeyParser.cs b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/ApiKeyParser.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6a9edf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/ApiKeyParser.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Text;
+using SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Enum;
+using SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Models;
+
+namespace SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Parses a provided api key and provides a result
+    /// </summary>
+    public class ApiKeyParser : IApiKeyParser
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Parses the provided Api key.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="wholeApiKey"></param>
+        /// <returns>An ApiKeyParseResult with the api key data and result code from the parse.</returns>
+        public ApiKeyParseResult Parse(string wholeApiKey)
+        {
+            var key = new ApiKey { IsValidFormat = false };
+            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(wholeApiKey))
+                return new ApiKeyParseResult { ApiKey = null, ResultCode = ApiKeyParseResultCode.InvalidEmptyOrWhitespace };
+
+            //if (!wholeApiKey.StartsWith("SL.", StringComparison.InvariantCulture))
+            //    return new ApiKeyParseResult {ApiKey = null, ResultCode = ApiKeyParseResultCode.InvalidMissingProperPrefix};
+
+            //extract public part
+            var maxCount = Math.Min(50, wholeApiKey.Length);
+            var publicPartEnd = wholeApiKey.IndexOf('.', startIndex: 0, maxCount); //don't check more than 50 chars
+            if (publicPartEnd == -1)
+                return new ApiKeyParseResult { ApiKey = null, ResultCode = ApiKeyParseResultCode.InvalidUnableToExtractPublicPart };
+            var publicPart = wholeApiKey.Substring(0, publicPartEnd);
+
+
+            //now extract the private part
+            if (wholeApiKey.Length <= publicPartEnd + 1)
+                return new ApiKeyParseResult { ApiKey = null, ResultCode = ApiKeyParseResultCode.InvalidUnableToExtractSecretPart };
+            var privatePart = wholeApiKey.Substring(publicPartEnd + 1);
+
+            //success
+            return new ApiKeyParseResult
+            {
+                ApiKey = new ApiKey
+                {
+                    PublicPart = publicPart,
+                    PrivatePart = privatePart,
+                    IsValidFormat = true,
+                },
+                ResultCode = ApiKeyParseResultCode.Success
+            };
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Enum/ApiKeyParseResultCode.cs b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Enum/ApiKeyParseResultCode.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aae2218
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Enum/ApiKeyParseResultCode.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Text;
+
+namespace SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Enum
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A code describing the result of an attempt to parse an Api key.
+    /// </summary>
+    public enum ApiKeyParseResultCode
+    {
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// No result could be produced.
+        /// </summary>
+        None,
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The key was found to be blank or invalid.
+        /// </summary>
+        InvalidEmptyOrWhitespace,
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The public portion of the key was unable to be parsed.
+        /// </summary>
+        InvalidUnableToExtractPublicPart,
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The secret portion of the key was unable to be parsed.
+        /// </summary>
+        InvalidUnableToExtractSecretPart,
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Key was successfully parsed.
+        /// </summary>
+        Success
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/IApiKeyParser.cs b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/IApiKeyParser.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64be894
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/IApiKeyParser.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+using SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Enum;
+using SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Models;
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Text;
+
+namespace SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core
+{
+    public interface IApiKeyParser
+    {
+        ApiKeyParseResult Parse(string wholeApiKey);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Models/ApiKey.cs b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Models/ApiKey.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20b6dae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Models/ApiKey.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Text;
+
+namespace SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Models
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A class representing an Api Key
+    /// </summary>
+    public class ApiKey
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The public part of the Api Key.
+        /// </summary>
+        public string PublicPart { get; set; } = "";
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The private part of the Api Key
+        /// </summary>
+        public string PrivatePart { get; set; } = "";
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// A boolean value describing the validity of the Api Key format
+        /// </summary>
+        public bool IsValidFormat { get; set; }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Models/ApiKeyParseResult.cs b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Models/ApiKeyParseResult.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eec93bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/Core/Models/ApiKeyParseResult.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+using SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Enum;
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Text;
+
+namespace SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Models
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The result of an Api Key Parse Attempt
+    /// </summary>
+    public class ApiKeyParseResult
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        /// The object representing the parsed Api Key
+        /// </summary>
+        public ApiKey ApiKey { get; set; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// A code describing the result of the attempt to parse the Api key.
+        /// </summary>
+        public ApiKeyParseResultCode ResultCode { get; set; }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/SocketLabsClient.cs b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/SocketLabsClient.cs
index b3cda97..e46bcf1 100644
--- a/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/SocketLabsClient.cs
+++ b/src/SocketLabs/InjectionApi/SocketLabsClient.cs
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 using System;
 using System.Net;
 using System.Net.Http;
+using System.Net.Http.Headers;
 using System.Reflection;
 using System.Runtime.ExceptionServices;
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core;
+using SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Core.Enum;
 using SocketLabs.InjectionApi.Message;
 
 namespace SocketLabs.InjectionApi
@@ -35,8 +37,8 @@ public class SocketLabsClient : ISocketLabsClient, IDisposable
         private string UserAgent { get; } = $"SocketLabs-csharp/{typeof(SocketLabsClient).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.GetName().Version}";
 
         private readonly int _serverId;
-        private readonly string _apiKey;
         private readonly HttpClient _httpClient;
+        private string _apiKey;
 
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -228,6 +230,16 @@ public async Task<SendResponse> SendAsync(IBasicMessage message, CancellationTok
 
             validationResult = validator.ValidateMessage(message);
             if (validationResult.Result != SendResult.Success) return validationResult;
+            
+            var apiKeyParser = new ApiKeyParser();
+            var parseResult = apiKeyParser.Parse(_apiKey);
+
+            if (parseResult.ResultCode == ApiKeyParseResultCode.Success)
+            {
+                _httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
+                    new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", _apiKey);
+                _apiKey = string.Empty;
+            }
 
             var factory = new InjectionRequestFactory(_serverId, _apiKey);
             var injectionRequest = factory.GenerateRequest(message);
@@ -282,6 +294,17 @@ public async Task<SendResponse> SendAsync(IBulkMessage message, CancellationToke
             validationResult = validator.ValidateMessage(message);
             if (validationResult.Result != SendResult.Success) return validationResult;
 
+
+            var apiKeyParser = new ApiKeyParser();
+            var parseResult = apiKeyParser.Parse(_apiKey);
+
+            if (parseResult.ResultCode == ApiKeyParseResultCode.Success)
+            {
+                _httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
+                    new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", _apiKey);
+                _apiKey = string.Empty;
+            }
+
             var factory = new InjectionRequestFactory(_serverId, _apiKey);
             var injectionRequest = factory.GenerateRequest(message);
             var json = injectionRequest.GetAsJson();