# Get Ready to Use the People API

Before you can start coding your first client application, you need to do three
things:

1. Get a Google Account
2. Create a project
3. Set up your app

This guide walks you through those tasks, if you haven't done them already.

## 1. Get a Google Account

You need a [Google Account](https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount) in order
to [create a project](https://developers.google.com/people/v1/getting-started#project) in the Google API Console. If you already have
an account, then you're all set. You may also want a separate Google Account for
testing purposes.

## 2. Create a project for your client

Before you can send requests to the People API, you need to tell Google
about your client and activate access to the API. You do this by using the Google API Console to create a project, which is a named collection of
settings and API access information, and register your application.

To get started using People API, you need to first
[use
the setup tool](https://console.cloud.google.com/start/api?id=people.googleapis.com&credential=client_key), which guides you through creating a project in the
Google API Console and enabling the API.

## 3. Set up your app

If you are using one of the supported languages, consider using one of the
[client libraries](https://developers.google.com/people/v1/libraries). Before you can make requests to the
API, you must set up [authorization](https://developers.google.com/people/v1/how-tos/authorizing).

Take a look at the
[quick start sample code](https://developers.google.com/people/quickstart/js)
which shows you how to fetch a list of contacts in a variety of languages.