refresh_token.rst

Working with Refresh Tokens

Note

The process for using refresh tokens is in the process of changing on Reddit's end. This documentation has been updated to be aligned with the future of how Reddit handles refresh tokens, and will be the only supported method in PRAW 8+. For more information please see: https://old.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/kvzaot/oauth2_api_changes_upcoming/

Reddit OAuth2 Scopes

Before working with refresh tokens you should decide which scopes your application requires. If you want to use all scopes, you can use the special scope *.

To get an up-to-date listing of all Reddit scopes and their descriptions run the following:

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://www.reddit.com/api/v1/scopes.json",
    headers={"User-Agent": "fetch-scopes by u/bboe"},
)

for scope, data in sorted(response.json().items()):
    print(f"{scope:>18s}  {data['description']}")

As of February 2021, the available scopes are:

Scope	Description
account	Update preferences and related account information. Will not have access to your email or password.
creddits	Spend my reddit gold creddits on giving gold to other users.
edit	Edit and delete my comments and submissions.
flair	Select my subreddit flair. Change link flair on my submissions.
history	Access my voting history and comments or submissions I've saved or hidden.
identity	Access my reddit username and signup date.
livemanage	Manage settings and contributors of live threads I contribute to.
modconfig	Manage the configuration, sidebar, and CSS of subreddits I moderate.
modcontributors	Add/remove users to approved user lists and ban/unban or mute/unmute users from subreddits I moderate.
modflair	Manage and assign flair in subreddits I moderate.
modlog	Access the moderation log in subreddits I moderate.
modmail	Access and manage modmail via mod.reddit.com.
modothers	Invite or remove other moderators from subreddits I moderate.
modposts	Approve, remove, mark nsfw, and distinguish content in subreddits I moderate.
modself	Accept invitations to moderate a subreddit. Remove myself as a moderator or contributor of subreddits I moderate or contribute to.
modtraffic	Access traffic stats in subreddits I moderate.
modwiki	Change editors and visibility of wiki pages in subreddits I moderate.
mysubreddits	Access the list of subreddits I moderate, contribute to, and subscribe to.
privatemessages	Access my inbox and send private messages to other users.
read	Access posts and comments through my account.
report	Report content for rules violations. Hide & show individual submissions.
save	Save and unsave comments and submissions.
structuredstyles	Edit structured styles for a subreddit I moderate.
submit	Submit links and comments from my account.
subscribe	Manage my subreddit subscriptions. Manage "friends" - users whose content I follow.
vote	Submit and change my votes on comments and submissions.
wikiedit	Edit wiki pages on my behalf
wikiread	Read wiki pages through my account

Obtaining Refresh Tokens

The following program can be used to obtain a refresh token with the desired scopes:

.. literalinclude:: ../examples/obtain_refresh_token.py
    :language: python

Using and Updating Refresh Tokens

Reddit refresh tokens can be used only once. When an authorization is refreshed the existing refresh token is consumed and a new access token and refresh token will be issued. While PRAW automatically handles refreshing tokens when needed, it does not automatically handle the storage of the refresh tokens. However, PRAW provides the facilities for you to manage your refresh tokens via custom subclasses of :class:`.BaseTokenManager`. For trivial examples, PRAW provides the :class:`.FileTokenManager`.

The following program demonstrates how to prepare a file with an initial refresh token, and configure PRAW to both use that refresh token, and keep the file up-to-date with a valid refresh token.

.. literalinclude:: ../examples/use_file_token_manager.py
    :language: python