Authorizing API calls

Introduction

LiveChat uses OAuth 2.1 protocol for authentication and authorization for all of its services. Before you continue, make sure you understand the difference between them.

• Authentication is making sure that somebody really is who they say they are.
  E.g.: Checking your passport at the security check is authentication.
• Authorization is assigning rules about who is allowed to do what.
  E.g.: Allowing you to take first class seat is authorization.

In terms of LiveChat apps, authentication is when you check the user credentials to see if they are signed in. Authorization is when you look up whether you allow them to do something.

Throughout the document, we'll also use the terms public and private apps:

• public apps are available to all LiveChat customers, who can install it from the LiveChat Marketplace.
• private apps are only available within a LiveChat license that created the app. They're a way to go if you want to build an internal app for your chat Agents only. Unlike public apps, private apps don't ask users for an access grant.

Use cases

Decide which authorization flow to choose based on your use case.

Read more about creating LiveChat apps or go straight to Developer Console and start building.

Agent authorization flows

All of the following authorization flows let your app acquire an access_token. With this token, the app can call the following APIs on behalf of an agent:

• the Agent Chat API
• the Configuration API
• LiveChat Accounts API
• HelpDesk API
• Reports API

To make calls to Customer Chat API, you need a different access_token. For that, see Customer authorization flows.

Personal Access Tokens

Unlike other authorization flows that let you acquire a token for your app, Personal Access Tokens (PATs) are generated per Agent. PATs are great when you want to make a quick call to the LiveChat API or test out the app you're working on.

To sign a request with a Personal Access Token, you need to:

1. Create a PAT in Developer Console.
2. Use your account_id and PAT in the Basic authentication scheme to send a request.

Step 1: Generate a PAT

Start in Developer Console. Then, go to Tools -> Personal Access Tokens and create a new token together with necessary scopes. You won't be able to change those scopes once you create the token.

Step 2: Use your credentials to send the request

Personal Access Tokens use the Basic authentication scheme. For that reason, you need a username and a password. Please note that with Basic Auth, you need to encode your credentials using base64.

Use:

• Account ID as the username for the Agent Chat API v3, Configuration API v3, Global Accounts API, and HelpDesk API
• Entity ID (your LiveChat login) as the username for the Configuration API v2 (the legacy version)
• PAT as the password for the APIs v2 and v3

Once you have your credentials, you can call the Agent Chat API, Configuration API, LiveChat Accounts API, or HelpDesk API. Other LiveChat APIs don't support PAT authorization.

Implicit grant

Implicit grant is an authorization flow recommended for JavaScript web apps, but it works for both types: JavaScript and server-side apps.

To set up your own web app, you must define the URL of the app and the list of scopes. Scopes determine which parts of a LiveChat user's account your app will have access to. A LiveChat customer who enters your app URL will be asked to enter their login and password and grant the access for your app. Then, the user is redirected to your app with access_token included in the URL.

There are a few steps in the process:

• Step 1: Create an app in Developer Console and configure the Authorization building block
• Step 2: Redirect the users of your app to the LiveChat OAuth Server
• Step 3: Get an access token from the URL
• Step 4: Use the token in API calls

Step 1: Create an app

If you don't have an app yet, start by creating one in Developer Console. The app is a LiveChat OAuth 2.1 Client with its Id and Secret. You need to configure the Authorization building block of your application. See the guide to learn how to do that. Since this is the Implicit grant authorization flow, you won't use the Client Secret of your app. Feel free to skip the part about Client Secret in the guide; the rest applies without any change.

Step 2: Redirect users to LiveChat OAuth Server

When users run your app, they should be redirected to the LiveChat OAuth Server, which can be found under this URL:

https://accounts.livechat.com/

https://accounts.livechat.com/
  ?response_type=token
  &client_id=9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836
  &redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fmy-application.com
  &state=i8XNjC4b8KVok4uw5RftR38Wgp2BFwql

At this point, the app should ask the user to allow it to access certain resources and perform certain actions. The list of resources and actions is automatically created based on the scopes selected for your app in Developer Console.

Keep in mind that as the app author, you won't see this screen. Use prompt:consent to verify this step from the user perspective. This step is also omitted for private web apps installed by Agents from the same license.

Step 3: Get an access token from the URL

After a user authorizes the app by clicking Allow, they are redirected back to your application (to the Redirect URI you specified in Developer Console). The URL includes a number of parameters, including the access_token.

https://my-application.com/
  #access_token=dal%3Atest_DQTRHGbZCFkAoss4Q
  &token_type=Bearer
  &expires_in=28800
  &state=i8XNjC4b8KVok4uw5RftR38Wgp2BFwql

Step 4: Use the token in API calls

Once you extract the token from the URL, your app can use it to sign requests to the LiveChat API. Your application should store the access_token in localStorage or a cookie until it expires. Caching the token prevents you from redirecting the user to LiveChat OAuth Server every time they visit your app.

Example implementation

This sample web app makes a call to Agent Chat API to return the list of customers, which is then logged in the console. The application uses the Implicit grant to get an access token.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<body>
  <script src="/get_customers.js"></script>
  ​
  <script>
    function getHashParam(key) {
      var params = location.hash.substring(1).split("&");
      var value = params.find(function (item) {
        return item.split("=")[0] === key;
      });
      return value ? value.split("=")[1] : "";
    }

    const clientId = "bb9e5b2f1ab480e4a715977b7b1b4279"; // Client Id of your app
    const redirectUri = "https://get-customers-app.samplehosting.com/"; // URL of your app
    const accessToken = decodeURIComponent(getHashParam("access_token"));

    if (accessToken) {
      get_customers();
    } else {
      location.href =
        "https://accounts.livechat.com/" +
        "?response_type=token" +
        "&client_id=" +
        clientId +
        "&redirect_uri=" +
        redirectUri;
    }
  </script>
</body>

</html>

const get_customers = () => {
  fetch('https://api.livechatinc.com/v3.1/agent/action/get_customers', {
    method: 'post',
    headers: {
      'Content-type': 'application/json',
      'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + accessToken,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({})
  })
    .then((response) => response.json())
    .then((data) => {
      console.log('Request succeeded with JSON response', data);
    })
    .catch((error) => {
      console.log('Request failed', error);
    });
}

To make it work, run this app on localhost or deploy it to Firebase to host it. Update index.html with your own redirectUri (link to your app) and clientId. Make sure to use the exact same Redirect URI in Developer Console. Also, to use the Get Customers method, your app needs the customers:ro scope, which you should select in Developer Console. When everything is ready, install the app privately for your license.

Authorization code grant

Authorization code grant flow is recommended for server-side apps. Unlike web apps, they can store confidential info, such as Client Secret, on a server without ever exposing it. When a user runs your app, they are redirected to the LiveChat OAuth Server only once. After successful authorization, the user is redirected back to your app along with a single-use authorization code. Then, your application exchanges the code for an access token and a refresh token using the Client Secret. From now on, the app can regenerate new access tokens without any action required from the user.

This flow is very similar to Implicit grant, but contains one additional step of exchanging the code for an access token.

The steps are as follows:

• Step 1: Create an app in Developer Console and configure the Authorization building block
• Step 2: Redirect the users of your app to the LiveChat OAuth Server
• Step 3: Get a code from the URL
• Step 4: Exchange the code for an access token
• Step 5: Use the token in API calls

PKCE extension

OAuth 2.1 introduces the PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange) extension for the Authorization code grant flow. It allows web applications to use the Authorization code grant flow, and also, enables the possibility to use custom schema redirects, like: my_app: // (especially useful with native applications).

The Authorization code grant flow with PKCE is recommended for both web apps and server-side apps. Since web app clients can't store Client Secrets securely, their Authorization code grant flow with PKCE differs from the one for server-side apps.

• Web apps - Client Secret cannot be used, so it's not mandatory; refresh tokens rotate.
• Server-side apps - Client Secret is mandatory to exchange a code for an access token and to refresh a token; refresh tokens don't rotate.

How does the Authorization code grant flow work with PKCE?

• The client generates code_verifier from the following characters: [A-Z] / [a-z] / [0-9] / "-" / "." / "_" / "~". It's between 43 and 128 characters long.
• The client generates code_challenge with code_challenge_method as follows:
  • plain - code_challenge = code_verifier, when no code_challenge_method is present, then plain is assumed.
  • S256 - code_challenge = b64(s256(ascii(code_verifier))) where b64 is Base64 URL encoding and s256 is the SHA256 hash function.
• The client sends code_challenge in the authorization request.
• The server responds with the code.
• The client sends code_verifier during the exchane of the for an access token.
• The server performs an additional validation for code_challenge and code_verifier. Upon successful validation, it returns the access token.

💡 To see code samples with PKCE parameters, use the dropdown list.

Step 1: Create an app

If you don't have an app yet, start by creating one in Developer Console. The app is a LiveChat OAuth 2.1 Client with its Id and Secret. You need to configure the Authorization building block of your application. See the guide to learn how to do that.

Step 2: Redirect users to LiveChat OAuth Server

When users run your app, they should be redirected to the LiveChat OAuth Server, which can be found under this URL:

https://accounts.livechat.com/

https://accounts.livechat.com/
  ?response_type=code
  &client_id=9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836
  &redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fmy-application.com
  &state=i8XNjC4b8KVok4uw5RftR38Wgp2BFwql

At this point, the app should ask the user to allow it to access certain resources and perform certain actions. The list of resources and actions is automatically created based on the scopes selected for your app in Developer Console.

Keep in mind that as the app author, you won't see this screen. Use prompt:consent to verify this step from the user perspective. This step is also omitted for private server-side apps installed by Agents from the same license.

Step 3: Acquire the code

After a user authorizes the app by clicking Allow, they are redirected back to your application (to the Redirect URI you specified in Developer Console). The URL includes a number o parameters, including code.

https://my-application.com/
  ?code=test_7W91a-oMsCeLvIaQm6bTrgtp7
  &state=i8XNjC4b8KVok4uw5RftR38Wgp2BFwql

https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/token

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/token" \
  -X POST \
  -d "grant_type=authorization_code&\
  code=dal:test_tnlRmy73mg9eaFESA&\
  client_id=9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836&\
  client_secret=test_d7MEp1YYo3&\
  redirect_uri=https://my-application.com"

{
  "access_token": "dal:test_YTJQ6GDVgQf8kQDPw",
  "account_id": "b7eff798-f8df-4364-8059-649c35c9ed0c",
  "expires_in": 28800,
  "organization_id": "390e44e6-f1e6-0368c-z6ddb-74g14508c2ex",
  "refresh_token": "dal:test_gfalskcakg2347o8326",
  "scope": "chats--all:ro,chats--all:rw",
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

Step 5: Use the token in API calls

Once you extract the token from the URL, yoour app can use it to sign requests to the LiveChat API. Your application should store the access_token in localStorage or a cookie until it expires. Caching the token prevents you from redirecting the user to LiveChat OAuth Server every time they visit your app.

https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/token

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/token" \
  -X POST \
  -d "grant_type=refresh_token&\
  refresh_token=dal:test_gfalskcakg2347o8326&\
  client_id=9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836&\
  client_secret=test_d7MEp1YYo3"

{
  "access_token": "dal:test_YTJQ6GDVgQf8kQDPw",
  "account_id": "b7eff798-f8df-4364-8059-649c35c9ed0c",
  "expires_in": 28800,
  "organization_id": "390e44e6-f1e6-0368c-z6ddb-74g14508c2ex",
  "scope": "chats--all:ro,chats--all:rw",
  "refresh_token": "dal:test_gfalskcakg2347o8326",
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/token

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/token"
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token|refresh token>"
  -X DELETE

{}

https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/info

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/info"
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>"

{
    "access_token": "dal:test_YTJQ6GDVgQf8kQDPw",
    "account_id": "bbe8b147-d60e-46ac-a1e5-1e94b11ea6e1",
    "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
    "expires_in": 28725,
    "organization_id": "390e44e6-f1e6-0368c-z6ddb-74g14508c2ex",
    "scope": "chats--all:ro,chats--all:rw",
    "token_type": "Bearer"
}

Customer authorization flows

To authorize requests to the Customer Chat API, you'll need a different access token than the one used for the Agent Chat API and Configuration API. Throughout the whole API documentation, we'll refer to it as customer_access_token.

Customer authorization flows allow you to receive an identity of a customer. You can do it via Cookie grant if you want to receive an identity of a single customer or via Agent token grant in order to manage multiple customer identities.

Cookie grant

Cookie grant is based on the __lc_cid and __lc_cst cookies, which store your customer identity data. These cookies are protected with the Secure and HttpOnly flags, which means that one can send the cookies only via HTTPS and only specific servers can access them.

The cookies are valid for 2 years, and each next call to https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/token extends their lifetime. The __lc_cid and __lc_cst cookies are necessary to recognize a customer when an access token is being issued.

This flow is recommended for frontend apps that support cookies, such as an app running in a web browser. Each app user has their own and unique customer identity.

https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/token

Set-Cookie: __lc_cid=3aa138c1-c137-41c6-6b26-cface5857378; Path=/customer; Domain=accounts.livechat.com; Expires=Sun, 18 Jun 2023 12:26:02 GMT; Max-Age=63072000; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=None

Set-Cookie: __lc_cst=87b9d0222e63e349da85535d07c81e1e1fb938de41f4e16e1d9ba5965f25db4aeea46b39d0fb; Path=/customer; Domain=accounts.livechat.com; Expires=Sun, 18 Jun 2023 12:26:02 GMT; Max-Age=63072000; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=None

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/token" \
  -X POST
  -d '{
    "grant_type": "cookie",
    "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
    "license_id": 2491303,
    "redirect_uri": "https://my-application.com"
      }'

{
  "access_token": "dal:test_SZhSSbShcZxrv580FA",
  "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
  "entity_id": "bf18d1a8-1afe-4a3e-4cc0-a3148f1143db",
  "expires_in": 28800,
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

Case: Existing customer

Use this option to generate a new access token for an already existing customer identity.

To achieve that, make the same exact same request as in Case: New customer.

Your entity_id, or any other customer identity data, won' be overwritten. The web browser will attach cookies to the server allowing it to recognize you as an existing customer. You'll get a new access token, and cookies' lifetime will be extended, too. They will be valid for 2 years from your last request to https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/token.

Case: Separating customer identity between groups

Use this option to generate a new access token for a customer (existing or a new one), but with a separate identity per group. This requires the chat_between_groups license property to be set to false.

All other parameters in this request are the same as in Case: New customer.

https://accounts.livechat.com/v2/customer/<organization_id>/<group_id>/token

Agent token grant

Agent token grant lets you create customer identity and use it to act on behalf of a customer. To begin, you'll need an agent access token with the customers:own scope. You can get it via all of the Agent authorization flows except for Personal Access Tokens.

Agent token grant is recommended for backend integrations. It allows you to impersonate customers and simulate that they send messages from external systems, like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, in LiveChat. An integration that follows this authorization flow acts as a middleman between an external system and LiveChat, and it has the ability to manage multiple customer identities.

https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/token

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/token" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>" \
  -X POST
  -d '{
    "grant_type": "agent_token",
    "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
    "response_type": "token"
      }'

{
  "access_token": "dal:test_SZhSSbShcZxrv580FA",
  "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
  "entity_id": "bf18d1a8-1afe-4a3e-4cc0-a3148f1143db",
  "expires_in": 28800,
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/token" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>" \
  -X POST
  -d '{
    "grant_type": "agent_token",
    "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
    "entity_id: "bf18d1a8-1afe-4a3e-4cc0-a3148f1143db"
      }'

{
  "access_token": "dal:test_SZhSSbShcZxrv580FB",
  "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
  "entity_id": "bf18d1a8-1afe-4a3e-4cc0-a3148f1143db",
  "expires_in": 28800,
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

Identity token grant

Identity token grant lets you transfer a customer identity from one place to another, for example transfer the identity between devices or web browsers. To begin, you'll need a valid agent or customer access token.

Step 1: Generate an identity transfer token

First, you need to generate an identity transfer token by calling the following URL:

https://accounts.livechatinc.com/customer/identity_transfer

Remember to authorize your request using the Authorization header with an agent access token or a customer access token.

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/identity_transfer" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <access_token>" \
  -X POST
  -d '{
    "bearer_type": "agent",
    "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
    "customer_id": "bf18d1a8-1afe-4a3e-4cc0-a3148f1143db"
}'

{
  "identity_transfer_token": "dal:test_SZhSSbShcZxrv580FA",
  "expires_in": 28800,
}

Step 2: Exchange the identity transfer token

After you've obtained an identity transfer token, you're able to exchange it for a customer access token using the identity_transfer grant type. To do so, call:

https://accounts.livechatinc.com/customer/token

No authorization is required for this call.

curl "https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/token" \
  -X POST
  -d '{
    "grant_type": "identity_token",
    "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
    "code": "dal:test_SZhSSbShcZxrv580FA"
}'

{
  "access_token": "dal:test_SZhSSbShcZxrv580FA",
  "client_id": "9cbf3a968289727cb3cdfe83ab1d9836",
  "entity_id": "bf18d1a8-1afe-4a3e-4cc0-a3148f1143db",
  "expires_in": 28800,
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

Revoking tokens

Look at the Customer Accounts API specification to find more details about revoking customer tokens.

Validating the access token

The instruction on how to validate customer access token of a customer is available in the Customer Accounts API specification.

Token limitations

• There's a limit of 25 access tokens per client per user account. When the limit is reached, the oldest token is automatically revoked.

• There's a limit of 25 refresh tokens per client per user account. When the limit is reached, the oldest token is automaticaly revoked.

• There's a limit of 3 redirects in 30 seconds to the Livechat OAuth 2.1 server per client per user account. When the limit is reached, the server redirects to the error page with the too_many_redirects error details.

Redirect URI rules

You can configure many comma-separated redirect URIs for your application. The redirect URI in the Authorization request is valid when it matches one of the URIs configured for your app (client) in Developer Console.

URIs are composed of several parts:

• scheme (http://, https://) - is required and must match exactly. See examples 10 and 11 in the table below.
• host (google.pl, localhost:3000, ...) - a hostname or IP and an optional port; is required and must match exactly. See examples 7, 8, and 9 in the table below.
• path (/info, /test, ...) - the client redirect URI path must be a substring of the authorization request redirect path; path traversals are forbidden. Optional. See examples 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the table below.
• query (?size=20, ...) - is forbidden.
• fragment (#paragraph) - is forbidden.

Examples

Errors

All authorization errors redirect to the error page https://accounts.livechat.com/ooops, while authentication errors redirect to the login page https://accounts.livechat.com/.

Errors codes are returned in the query strings, in form of the oauth_exception parameter (for authorization errors) or identity_exception param (for authentication errors). Additional exception_details may be passed with detailed information.

If you're looking for answers, see Authorization FAQ.

Authorization errors

invalid_request

The request is missing a required parameter, includes an invalid parameter value, includes a parameter more than once, or is otherwise malformed. Possible reasons:

• wrong HTTP method
• invalid HTTP body encoding

unauthorized_client

The client is not authorized to request a token using this method. Possible reasons:

• missing client ID
• client ID not found
• refresh token not found
• invalid client secret
• invalid redirect URI

access_denied

The resource owner or authorization server denied the request. Possible reasons:

• the requested scopes include a scope that wasn't originally granted by the resource owner

Not helpful? See access_denied in Authentication errors.

unsupported_response_type

The authorization server does not support obtaining a token using this method. Possible reasons:

• response type is not code or token

invalid_scope

The requested scope is invalid, insufficient, unknown or malformed. Possible reasons:

• scope not found
• scope name not found
• an app requires the administrator scopes, but instead, an agent user was logged in

server_error

The authorization server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request. Possible reasons:

• server down
• server storage down

Not helpful? See server_error in Authentication errors.

temporarily_unavailable

The authorization server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. Currently not used.

unsupported_grant_type

The authorization grant type is not supported by the authorization server.

• using disabled authorization grant type, for example client credentials grant; read more...

invalid_grant

The provided authorization grant (e.g., authorization code, resource owner credentials) or refresh token is invalid, expired, revoked, does not match the redirection URI used in the authorization request, or was issued to another client. Possible reasons:

• refresh token expired
• access token expired

invalid_client

Client authentication failed (e.g., unknown client, no client authentication included, or unsupported authentication method). Possible reasons:

• using refresh token with wrong client id

missing_grant

The client is missing granted rights. Possible reasons:

• grants were rejected
• grants were never given
• client changed required grants

Exception details

client_id_not_found - wrong client ID, client id does not exists

redirect_uri_not_set - client misconfiguration, the client has not set a redirect URI

invalid_redirect_uri - redirect URI is not one of the client's allowed redirects

too_many_redirects - the server has detected a redirect loop; the client shouldn't redirect too many times

Authentication errors

invalid_request

The request is missing a required parameter, includes an invalid parameter value, includes a parameter more than once, or is otherwise malformed.

Not helpful? See invalid_request in Authorization errors.

unauthorized

The request is valid, but identity data is wrong or identity does not exists. If identity id is known, it's added to querystring as entity_id.

server_error

The server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from determining identity.

Not helpful? See server_error in Authorization errors.

access_denied

The identity is known, but access is denied because of business reasons. For example, identity can be banned or have the wrong account version, etc.

Not helpful? See access_denied in Authorization errors.

identity_lost

The identity was removed due logout, password reset, remote logout, etc.

credentials_login_disabled

Identity has disabled credentials login strategy. Identity should be verified with other stategies like Google Oauth or SAML.

Contact us

If you have questions, see Authorization FAQ or contact us at developers@livechat.com.