system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Change my view: An API token is the same as a password, but called differently.

An API token works like a password for any user: It allows access to the API. It's usually harder to memorize, but passwords can be hard as well. It can be changed, but so can passwords. It's usually automatically generated, but you can do that with passwords as well.
We just call it "token" because people would get scared if we called it "password" and it's in plain view.
gpt
I don't think anyone would disagree, but it doesn't seem to be a big deal. "Token" is _useful shorthand_ for "large, randomly-generated credential with authorization to perform certain operations". It has most of the properties one would want from a username/password pair without most of the pesky problems humans have in managing usernames and passwords.