The first step to using the API is to generate a personal access token. Personal access tokens function like ordinary OAuth access tokens. They can be used instead of a password for DigitalOcean over HTTPS, or can be used to authenticate to the API over Basic Authentication.
A detailed tutorial about how to use the version 2 API can be found here:
- Tutorial - digitalocean.com 
- API Documentation - digitalocean.com
DigitalOcean tokens can be created with read or read-write scope. Write scope is required if you want to modify your account in any way (e.g. create or delete a droplet).
Here are the steps to generating a personal access token:
- Log in to DigitalOcean Control Panel
- Click on Apps & API in the sidebar on the left-hand side
- Click Generate new token
- Enter your desired token name
- Select the scope for this token (read or read/write)
- Click Generate Token
- Record your personal access token now. It will not be shown again, for security purposes
Example Token
Here is an example of what your token will look like:
Note: Remember to keep your tokens secret! They function similarly to passwords. Do not hardcode your token(s) into programs--use environmental variables. If a token becomes compromised, delete it to revoke that token's access.
Now that you have generated a personal access token, you can use it like a password to use the API with your account.