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Authorization (OAuth 2.1)

Authorization (OAuth 2.1)

OAuth 2.1 is how a third-party app asks a Nifty team for permission to call the API on its behalf, without ever handling the user's password. If you are only scripting against your own account, use a Personal Access Token instead — this page is for integrations you ship to other people's teams.

Nifty's authorization server implements the authorization-code grant with PKCE, which OAuth 2.1 requires of every client. The implicit and resource-owner-password grants are not supported.

Endpoints

Purpose	URL
Discovery (RFC 8414)	https://api.niftypm.com/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server
Authorization	https://api.niftypm.com/oauth/authorize
Token	https://api.niftypm.com/oauth/token

Read the discovery document rather than hard-coding those URLs. It is the authoritative description of this authorization server, and it is what tells you — without a support ticket — which grant types, scopes, PKCE methods and client-authentication methods are actually accepted right now. Most OAuth libraries can consume it directly; point yours at the issuer https://api.niftypm.com and let it resolve the rest.

Code
curl https://api.niftypm.com/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server

The authorization server runs per environment. Substitute the host if you are building against a non-production environment — QA is https://awsapi.niftyqa.com and UAT is https://awsapi.niftyuat.com; each serves its own discovery document at the same path.

Registering your app

Nifty does not support dynamic client registration (RFC 7591) — there is no registration_endpoint, and one is not advertised in the discovery document. Register your app by hand: in Nifty, go to Settings → App Center → "Integrate with API".

Registration gives you a client_id, and — if you register a confidential client — a client_secret that is displayed once, at creation time. Store it then; it is never shown again.

Client type	Credentials	token_endpoint_auth_method
Public — mobile, desktop, single-page apps	client_id only	none
Confidential — server-side apps that can keep a secret	client_id + client_secret	client_secret_post

Client credentials are sent in the token request body. HTTP Basic (client_secret_basic) is not among the advertised authentication methods.

Redirect URI rules

You must register at least one redirect URI, and you may register several.

• Matching is an exact, full-string comparison. The redirect_uri you send to the authorization endpoint must be byte-identical to one of the registered values — including scheme, host, port, path, and any trailing slash.
• There are no wildcards and no prefix matching. A literal * is rejected at registration time. If your app needs several callback addresses, register each one in full.
• A redirect_uri that does not match a registered value is rejected with invalid_request before any authorization code exists.

The authorization code flow

1. Create a PKCE code verifier and challenge

The code_verifier is a high-entropy random string you keep private for the duration of the flow. The code_challenge is its SHA-256 hash, base64url encoded — S256 is the only challenge method this server accepts.

Code
code_verifier=$(openssl rand -base64 96 | tr -d '\n=' | tr '+/' '-_' | cut -c1-128)
code_challenge=$(printf '%s' "$code_verifier" | openssl dgst -binary -sha256 | openssl base64 | tr -d '\n=' | tr '+/' '-_')

Keep code_verifier in the user's session — you need it again in step 4, and it must never travel through the browser redirect.

2. Send the user to the authorization endpoint

Redirect the user's browser (not a background HTTP request) to the authorization endpoint. Nifty responds with a redirect to its consent screen, where the user picks the workspace and approves the access you asked for.

Code
https://api.niftypm.com/oauth/authorize
  ?response_type=code
  &client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
  &redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.example.com%2Fcallback
  &scope=read%20write
  &state=RANDOM_OPAQUE_VALUE
  &code_challenge=YOUR_CODE_CHALLENGE
  &code_challenge_method=S256

Parameter	Required	Notes
response_type	yes	code — the only supported response type
client_id	yes	From registration
redirect_uri	yes	Must exactly match a registered value
scope	yes	Space-delimited (see Scopes)
state	yes	Opaque anti-CSRF value; verify it on the way back
code_challenge	yes	From step 1
code_challenge_method	yes	S256 — the only accepted method

3. Receive the authorization code

When the user approves, their browser is redirected back to your registered redirect_uri with the code in the query string (query is the only supported response mode):

Code
https://app.example.com/callback?code=AUTHORIZATION_CODE&state=RANDOM_OPAQUE_VALUE&iss=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.niftypm.com

Before doing anything else:

• Check state matches the value you sent.
• Check iss equals https://api.niftypm.com. This server sets authorization_response_iss_parameter_supported, so the issuer is always returned and validating it defends against mix-up attacks.

If the user declines, you get ?error=access_denied&state=… instead.

The authorization code expires after 60 seconds and can be redeemed exactly once. Exchange it immediately; a second exchange of the same code fails.

4. Exchange the code for tokens

POST to the token endpoint as application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

Code
curl -X POST https://api.niftypm.com/oauth/token \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  --data-urlencode "grant_type=authorization_code" \
  --data-urlencode "code=$AUTHORIZATION_CODE" \
  --data-urlencode "code_verifier=$code_verifier" \
  --data-urlencode "redirect_uri=https://app.example.com/callback" \
  --data-urlencode "client_id=$CLIENT_ID" \
  --data-urlencode "client_secret=$CLIENT_SECRET"

Omit client_secret for a public client; send it for a confidential one. code_verifier is required for every client, public or confidential.

Code
{
  "access_token": "nft_oauth_1a2b3c4d_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_a1b2",
  "token_type": "Bearer",
  "expires_in": 3600,
  "refresh_token": "<opaque refresh token>",
  "scope": "read write"
}

The scope echoed here is the coarse summary of what was granted; the token itself carries and enforces the fully expanded fine-grained set.

Use the access token like any bearer credential:

Code
Authorization: Bearer nft_oauth_<...>

Token lifetimes and refreshing

Token	Lifetime
Authorization code	60 seconds, single use
Access token	3600 seconds (1 hour)
Refresh token	7 days

Always trust expires_in on the token response over a hard-coded constant.

To mint a fresh pair before the access token expires, use the refresh_token grant:

Code
curl -X POST https://api.niftypm.com/oauth/token \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  --data-urlencode "grant_type=refresh_token" \
  --data-urlencode "refresh_token=$REFRESH_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "client_id=$CLIENT_ID" \
  --data-urlencode "client_secret=$CLIENT_SECRET"

The response has the same shape as step 4 — including a new refresh_token.

Three things to get right:

• Refresh tokens rotate. Every successful refresh returns a new refresh token and consumes the old one. Persist the new value immediately, replacing the old one.
• Replay revokes everything. Presenting a refresh token that has already been used is treated as a compromise: the entire token family is revoked and the user has to authorize your app again. This is why storing the newest token — and never retrying a refresh with a stale one — matters.
• Scope is re-clamped on every refresh against the granting member's current role.

Public clients refresh with client_id alone; confidential clients must still present client_secret.

Scopes

Nifty advertises its scopes in scopes_supported, on two levels.

Coarse axes — read, write, delete. Request these when your app wants broad access and you would rather not enumerate resources. The authorization server expands them for you:

Axis	Expands to
read	every <resource>:read
write	every <resource>:write, <resource>:read and <resource>:create
delete	every <resource>:delete

Fine-grained scopes — <resource>:<action>, where the resource is plural and the action is one of read, write, create or delete. For example tasks:read, chats:write, documents:create, projects:delete. Request these when you want least privilege. The full list is in scopes_supported in the discovery document.

Scopes are space-delimited in both the authorization request and the token response.

Scope is clamped to the granting member's role

Whatever you register and whatever you request is a ceiling, not a guarantee. At consent time, and again every time a token is issued or refreshed, the requested scope is intersected with the permissions the approving member's role actually grants. A member who cannot delete projects cannot grant your app projects:delete, however you asked for it.

Practical consequences:

• Always read the scope field on the token response; it is the authoritative record of what you got.
• If the intersection is empty, authorization fails with invalid_scope.
• Because the clamp is re-applied on refresh, a token's effective access can shrink over the life of a connection.

Migrating from OAuth 2.0

If you have implemented an OAuth 2.0 client before, these are the differences that will actually break your code:

• PKCE is mandatory for every client — not just public ones. A confidential client with a client_secret must still generate a code_verifier and send it on the token exchange. S256 is the only accepted challenge method; plain is not supported.
• The implicit grant is gone. response_type=token is not supported; code is the only response type. Tokens are never returned in a redirect.
• The resource-owner password grant is gone. Only authorization_code and refresh_token are supported. Never ask a user for their Nifty password.
• Redirect URIs are matched exactly. Any wildcard or prefix matching your OAuth 2.0 client relied on will fail.
• Refresh tokens are single-use and rotate. A client that stores the original refresh token and reuses it will get its whole token family revoked.
• Client credentials go in the request body (client_secret_post), not in an HTTP Basic header.
• Validate the iss parameter on the authorization response.

Error responses

Errors follow RFC 6749: a JSON body of { "error": …, "error_description": … } from the token endpoint, and ?error=…&state=… on the redirect back from the authorization endpoint.

error	Usually means
invalid_request	A required parameter is missing or malformed — including a redirect_uri that does not exactly match a registered value
invalid_client	Unknown client_id, or a confidential client sent a missing or wrong client_secret
invalid_grant	The code or refresh token is expired, already used, or does not belong to this client; also a failed code_verifier check
invalid_scope	The requested scope is not advertised, or the approving member's role grants none of it
unsupported_response_type	Anything other than response_type=code
access_denied	The user declined at the consent screen
temporarily_unavailable	The authorization server is disabled for this environment; retry later