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Server-side authentication

Use long-lived API Keys to authenticate server-side backend applications.

Client-side authentication

Use short-lived JWT tokens to authenticate client-side frontend applications.

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Get your API credentials

To get your API credentials, create an Application in the Propel Console with DATA_POOL_QUERY and METRIC_QUERY scopes so they can access your data.
If you are using the Management API, you need an Application with ADMIN scope.
For step-by-step instructions, see the Creating an Application guide.

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Server-side authentication

Authenticate server-side applications using an Application ID and secret as HTTP Basic Authentication credentials. Use the Application ID as username and secret as password in the HTTP Basic Authorization header: 
curl -X POST https://api.us-east-2.propeldata.com/graphql \
-u $APPLICATION_ID:$APPLICATION_SECRET \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"query": "query SqlV1 { sqlV1(input: { query: \"SELECT 1;\" }) { columns { columnName } rows } }"}'

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Client-side authentication

Authenticate client-side frontend applications using short-lived JWT tokens. This involves a two-step process:
1

Generate a JWT token

Make a POST request to the Token API endpoint with your Application credentials from secure backend code.
curl -X POST https://auth.us-east-2.propeldata.com/oauth2/token \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=$APPLICATION_ID&client_secret=$APPLICATION_SECRET"
Replace $APPLICATION_ID and $APPLICATION_SECRET with your Application’s clientId and secret.The response includes:
{
  "access_token": "eyJra...",
  "expires_in": 3600,
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}
2

Make an authenticated request

Once you’ve received an access token, your application makes API requests by including the Authorization header with your access token.
curl -X POST https://api.us-east-2.propeldata.com/graphql \
-H "Authorization: Bearer eyJra..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"query": "query SqlV1 { sqlV1(input: { query: \"SELECT 1;\" }) { columns { columnName } rows } }"}'

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Error handling

The Token API will return a 400 Bad Request response if:
  • The grant_type parameter is missing or invalid
  • The client_id parameter is missing or invalid
  • The client_secret parameter is missing or invalid
To resolve this:
  1. Verify you’ve created a Propel Application in your Account
  2. Confirm your Application secret is correct
  3. Ensure you include grant_type=client_credentials in the request
The API will return a 401 Unauthorized response when using an invalid access token. Common causes include:
  • The token has expired
  • The token was revoked
  • The token is malformed
Your application should handle 401 errors by requesting a new access token.
The API will return a 403 Forbidden response when the access token lacks the required permissions to access a resource. This means:
  • The token does not have the necessary scopes
  • The token does not have the required policies
Check your Application’s permissions in the Propel Console.
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