Microsoft Planetary Computer private Subscription Key status

[SimoneMatteo]

Hi,

I am writing to inquire about the current status and utility of the personal subscription keys that were previously provided for access to the Microsoft Planetary Computer (MPC) Jupyter Hub and its associated private sections.
I have been utilizing MPC datasets via the STAC APIs for some time, and initially received this key when I registered for the now-deprecated Jupyter Hub service.

This key was typically configured using the PC_SDK_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY environment variable or the planetary_computer.set_subscription_key() method in the Python SDK, although I was never entirely certain of the concrete benefits it provided at the time.

Since both the dedicated Jupyter Hub and the related user registration/private pages on the MPC website appear to have been fully retired, and having found no relevant information in the official documentation, I would appreciate clarification on two main points:

• is this personal subscription key still effective for accessing any current Planetary Computer services, such as the STAC API, Blob Storage, or any other tools?
• if the key does remain effective, what specific benefits does it currently grant, such as elevated API rate limits, access to restricted datasets, or priority support?

Thank you for the clarification.

[ghidalgo3]

• Yes, we will announce any changes to subscription key behavior in this repository.
• Using a subscriptiopn key grants you higher rate limits when request SAS tokens and longer-lived SAS tokens to avoid having to refresh tokens frequently, which can be a burden in long-running HPC workloads.