Authentication

We use OAuth for partners wanting to develop integrations with Pleo to access Pleo data on behalf of customer, specifically the Authorization Code grant type. As we have taken a fairly standard approach, you can find further documentation here.

Cheatsheet

Parameter	Value
Authorization Endpoint	https://auth.pleo.io/oauth/authorize —or— https://auth.staging.pleo.io/oauth/authorize
Token Endpoint	https://auth.pleo.io/oauth/token —or— https://auth.staging.pleo.io/oauth/token
Grant Type	Authorization Code (with PKCE)
Client Credentials	`client_id` and `client_secret` that you received after completing the client registration.
Redirect URI	Must match exactly with the `redirect_uri` that you supplied during client registration.
Scope	For testing, `test:test` and any similar value will work.
PKCE	Required, S256 only. Verifier must conform to the RFC (43–128 characters, only alphanumeric characters and `-\_.~)`
Client Authentication	`Authorization: Basic BASE64({client_id}:{client_secret})`

Getting started

In order to begin building your OAuth solution, you will need be provided client credentials. You can request this completing the form here.

Client credentials for the staging environment will be provided within 1-3 business days via a secure channel.

Initiating the Authorization Request

The first step in the flow is obtaining an authorization code. The flow will need to be initiated from your application in a browser.

https://auth.pleo.io/oauth/authorize?
  client_id=<client_id>&
  redirect_uri=<redirect_uri>&
  scope=<scopes>&
  response_type=code&
  state=<state>&
  code_challenge_method=S256&
  code_challenge=<code_challenge>

<client_id>: provided to you during app creation
<redirect_uri>: must match the value you provided during app creation
<scope>: the list of scopes you have access to will be determined during the app creation process. Multiple scopes can be passed as a space-separated list, for example: scope=export:read export:write
<response_type>: always code
<state>: a string value. Should be request-specific. Will be returned back by the server on future requests. This is optional.
code_challenge_method: must be S256
code_challenge: must be a base64uri encoded sha256 hash of a code_verifier, a secret random string (43–128 characters, only alphanumeric characters and -\_.~)), that the client will need to present later during authorization code exchange. You MUST NOT expose code_verifier during authorization request.

The user will then be prompted to login:

After which the user will be redirected by to the url specified in the original request containing the following in the query params:

code: the authorization which will be used to to obtain access and refresh tokens
state: this should match what was passed in the initial request

Getting Tokens

The authorization code obtained above is a temporary code that can be exchanged for an access and refresh token with the following request:

POST https://auth.pleo.io/oauth/token

grant_type=authorization_code&
redirect_uri=${REDIRECT_URI}&
code=${THE_CODE_FROM_ABOVE}&
code_verifier=${SOME_STRING}

Client authentication is performed using Authorization: Basic BASE64({client_id}:{client_secret}) header
redirect_uri must be the same as the one used to generate the authorization code
code_verifier from the initial request must included to verify you application originally sent the request

A successful response will look like:

{
  "access_token": "THE_ACCESS_TOKEN",
  "token_type": "Bearer",
  "expires_in": ACCESS_TOKEN_LIFETIME, // 10 mins.
  "refresh_token": "REFRESH_TOKEN", // optional
  "scope": "scope1 scope2"
}

Store the access_token and refresh_token securely.

The expires_in field describes the lifetime of the access token, in seconds since the moment it has been issued. After specified time, it will no longer be accepted by the resource servers, and a new access token should be obtained by making a request to the token endpoint. Your application can do this by making a request to a token endpoint using the refresh token grant, as described in the next section.

A response may not contain a refresh token. In this case, after the access token expires, the only way to obtain a new access token is to go through the authorization process again.

Refresh Tokens

Once you have a refresh token, this can be used to continue obtain new short-lived access tokens:

POST https://auth.pleo.io/oauth/token

grant_type=refresh_token&
refresh_token=xxxxxxxxxxx

You must present your client_id and client_secret using Basic HTTP authentication.

As successful response will include a new access_token and a new refresh_token, which you will need to stored in replacement of the previously used refresh token:

{
  "access_token": "THE_ACCESS_TOKEN",
  "token_type": "Bearer",
  "expires_in": ACCESS_TOKEN_MILLI_LIFETIME, // 10 mins.
  "refresh_token": "REFRESH_TOKEN",
  "scope": "scope1+scope2..."
}

Token Introspection

The token introspection endpoint to return information about a token. Client authentication is performed using Authorization: Basic BASE64({client_id}:{client_secret}) header. Note that clients can only introspect tokens generated with their own client.

POST https://auth.pleo.io/oauth/token/introspect

{
    "token": "{token}"
}

A successful request will return the following response

{
	"active": true,
	"sub": "RESOURCE_ID",
	"token_type": "at+JWT",
	"exp": ACCESS_TOKEN_LIFETIME,
	"client_id": "CLIENT_ID",
	"iat": TIME_TOKEN_ISSUED,
	"aud": "https://external.pleo.io",
	"iss": "pleo.production",
	"jti": "TOKEN_ID"
}