Google Drive API - Invalid Credentials

Question

I want to use a scripted approach (probably via) curl, to access some simple info from the drive api, like creation date. Essentially I want to script what I can do in their web interface: https://developers.google.com/drive/api/v3/reference/files/list.

I having been using a curl command that they expose in a query at the above link:

curl \
  'https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files?corpora=user&q=createdTime%20%3E%20%272021-11-23T12%3A00%3A00%27&key=[YOUR_API_KEY]' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer [YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN]' \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --compressed

I have created an API key for this purpose (unrestricted for now). And used this app to generate an access token: https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?scope=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.googleapis.com%2Fauth%2Fdrive&redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob&response_type=code&client_id=735795831119-kcpkamhiaojavqrt67mti7thcaa6ce87.apps.googleusercontent.com

But I have spent hours chasing my tail over the 401 Invalid Credentials error. Any help on getting a more specific error message, or better way to do this seemingly simple query would be appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

The result of the link below is an Authorization code.

https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?scope=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.googleapis.com%2Fauth%2Fdrive&redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob&response_type=code&client_id=735795831119-kcpkamhiaojavqrt67mti7thcaa6ce87.apps.googleusercontent.com

You need to exchange it to https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token to generate an Access Token:

curl \
--request POST \
--data "code=[Authentcation code from authorization link]&client_id=[Application Client Id]&client_secret=[Application Client Secret]&redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob&grant_type=authorization_code" \
https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token

The result of the curl above is something like this:

{
  "access_token": "access token here",
  "expires_in": 3599,
  "refresh_token": "refresh token here",
  "scope": "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive",
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

Now you have the access token, you can paste it in the code below alongside with your API key.

curl \
  'https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files?corpora=user&q=createdTime%20%3E%20%272021-11-23T12%3A00%3A00%27&key=[YOUR_API_KEY]' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer [YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN]' \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --compressed

Note:

• Make sure you enable the Drive API in GCP
• Application Client Id and Application Client Secret can be found after you created an OAuth 2.0 Client ID in GCP.

Reference:

• DaImTo answer on How to connect to the Google Drive API using cURL.