diff --git a/R/KorAPConnection.R b/R/KorAPConnection.R
index d1f55aa..53fbc1c 100644
--- a/R/KorAPConnection.R
+++ b/R/KorAPConnection.R
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+################################################################################
+# Use setClassUnion to define the unholy NULL-data union as a virtual class.
+################################################################################
+setClassUnion("characterOrNULL", c("character", "NULL"))
+
 #' Class KorAPConnection
 #'
 #' \code{KorAPConnection} objects represent the connection to a KorAP server.
@@ -7,7 +12,7 @@
 #' @import utils
 #' @import methods
 #' @export
-KorAPConnection <- setClass("KorAPConnection", slots=c(KorAPUrl="character", apiVersion="character", apiUrl="character", apiToken="character", userAgent="character", timeout="numeric", verbose="logical", cache="logical"))
+KorAPConnection <- setClass("KorAPConnection", slots=c(KorAPUrl="character", apiVersion="character", apiUrl="character", apiToken="characterOrNULL", userAgent="character", timeout="numeric", verbose="logical", cache="logical"))
 
 #' @param .Object KorAPConnection object
 #' @param KorAPUrl the URL of the KorAP server instance you want to access.
@@ -114,9 +119,11 @@
 
 #' @import keyring
 getApiToken <- function(KorAPUrl) {
-  ifelse("keyring" %in% installed.packages()[,1 ]&& has_keyring_support()
-         && KorAPUrl %in% key_list(service = "RKorAPClientAPIToken"),
-         key_get("RKorAPClientAPIToken", KorAPUrl), NULL)
+  if ("keyring" %in% installed.packages()[,1 ]&& has_keyring_support()
+         && KorAPUrl %in% key_list(service = "RKorAPClientAPIToken"))
+         key_get("RKorAPClientAPIToken", KorAPUrl)
+  else
+    NULL
 }
 
 KorAPCacheSubDir <- function() {