What Bearer token should I be using for Firebase Cloud Messaging testing?

Question

I am trying to send a test notification using Firebase Cloud Messaging via Postman. I'm doing a POST to this url

https://fcm.googleapis.com/v1/projects/[my project name]/messages:send

The Authorization tab in Postman is set to No Auth and my Headers tab looks like this

Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer [server key]

[server key] is a newly generated server key in the 'Cloud Messaging' tab of my Firebase project's 'Settings' area. I keep getting this error in response.

"error": {
    "code": 401,
    "message": "Request had invalid authentication credentials. Expected OAuth 2 access token, login cookie or other valid authentication credential. See https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/devconsole-project.",
    "status": "UNAUTHENTICATED"
}

Based on everything I can find, I'm using the right token, but it seems Google disagrees. What should I be sending as the Authorization header to get past this error?

Try prefixing your Server key with `key=`. I have an [answer here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/45310143/4625829) that shows a step by step guide when sending with Postman. — AL., May 18 '18 at 02:49
I've discovered that works, but only with the legacy api at `https://fcm.googleapis.com/fcm/send`. I'm hesitant to use the legacy API instead of the V2 api that requires the oAuth token of a user. I'm using firebase auth though, so the token for the user isn't easily available and easy to keep current (as silly as that seems). Thanks for the pointer. — sonicblis, May 19 '18 at 16:09

Ramis · Answer 1 · 2023-01-07T07:24:10.113

89

Steps to get Authentication Bearer:

Got to Google OAuth Playground: https://developers.google.com/oauthplayground
In the "Input your own scopes" for FCM use this url: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/firebase.messaging
Tap Authorize API.
Pick correct user for authorisation and allow access.
In the Step 2: Exchange authorization code for tokens tap Exchange authorisation code for tokens.
Access token is your Bearer.

Steps to send FCM using Postman:

URL to send: https://fcm.googleapis.com/v1/projects/projectid-34543/messages:send
Request Type: POST
Headers: Content-Type -> application/json & Authorization -> Bearer
In the body section enter APS payload with the right device token.
Click send.

In case you want to use cURL, for a data-notification:

curl --location --request POST 'https://fcm.googleapis.com/v1/projects/your-project-id/messages:send' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer your-access-token-*****-wqewe' \
--data-raw '{
    "message": {
        "token": "device-token-qwfqwee-***-qefwe",
        "data": {
            "Key1": "val1",
            "Key2": "val2"
        }
    }
}'

edited Jan 07 '23 at 07:24

answered Jul 01 '20 at 05:45

Ramis

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4

omg the gif image giving a hard time to understand – Muhammad Asyraf Nov 27 '20 at 18:20
1

How to get code programmatically (in backend)? – morfair Jan 28 '21 at 08:57
1

@Ramis IThanks. I got an access token. Is this token forever? – BIS Tech May 03 '21 at 09:37
@BloodLoss It is short living token. – Ramis May 03 '21 at 09:38
@Ramis okay. It's mean, I have to use this kind of way to get token?https://stackoverflow.com/a/52265305/8822337 – BIS Tech May 03 '21 at 09:40
@BloodLoss If token expiries, then you need to get a new token. I used this token when I was testing push notifications throw Firebase. – Ramis May 03 '21 at 09:44
1

Thks a lot had a very hard time to find how to generate the bearer token. The steps provided worked just fine. – Abner Jun 16 '21 at 12:46
How do you generate tokens for production though? Obviously you can’t manually do this for users… – Eric Mar 24 '22 at 19:48
@Eric I do not know. Here should be instructions somewhere. One of them: https://medium.com/fantageek/push-notification-in-ios-with-firebase-1c25f39ca578 – Ramis Mar 24 '22 at 20:05
1

Very detailed answer ! Thanks – Rohit Parte Jul 10 '22 at 13:27

demienYu · Answer 2 · 2018-09-06T08:43:33.283

16

You have to generate new access token in Postman.

First, ensure you have enabled FCM API in Google Developer Console. Than go to Google Developer Console -> APIs & Services -> Credentials. Look at "OAuth 2.0 client IDs" section. There should be at least one item in list. Download it as json file.

In Postman open "Authorization" tab, select Type = "OAuth 2.0" than click "Get New Access Token". Dialog appears.

Fields:

Token Name - type what you want

Grant Type = Authorization Code

Callback URL = redirect_uris from downloaded json

Auth URL = auth_uri

Access Token URL = token_uri

Client ID = client_id

Client Secret = client_secret

Scope = "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/firebase.messaging"

State - leave empty

Client Authentication = default, Send As Basic Auth Header

Click "Request Token" and that's it.

edited Sep 06 '18 at 08:43

answered Sep 05 '18 at 07:07

demienYu

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1
7

That works for me ! and also you have to activate FCM API – Luis Abarca Sep 29 '18 at 18:47
1

Not working any more. Getting that "browser is insecure" – Ramis Jun 30 '20 at 14:50
Worked. But Need a solution to build through any API. – Sanjay Kumar Sep 22 '21 at 07:47
1

Both this solution and the oauthplayground solution worked for me, but I really prefer this as it can be integrated a lot better through Postman! – Lucas Sousa Apr 06 '23 at 20:24

score 12 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 10 '18 at 20:50

The Bearer Token is the result of getting an OAuth access token with your firebase service account.

Get yourself a Firebase service account key.
Go to your firebase console > Settings > Service Accounts.
If your on Firebase Admin SDK generate new private key.
You use the service account key to authenticate yourself and get the bearer token.
Follow how to do that in Node, Python or Java here: https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/auth-server.

So in Java you can get the token like this:

  private static final String SCOPES = "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/firebase.messaging";

  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
    System.out.println(getAccessToken());
  }

  private static String getAccessToken() throws IOException {
    GoogleCredential googleCredential = GoogleCredential
        .fromStream(new FileInputStream("service-account.json"))
        .createScoped(Arrays.asList(SCOPES));
    googleCredential.refreshToken();
    return googleCredential.getAccessToken();
  }

And now you can finally send your test notification with FCM.

Postman code:

POST /v1/projects/[projectId]/messages:send HTTP/1.1
Host: fcm.googleapis.com
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer access_token_you_just_got

{
  "message":{
    "token" : "token_from_firebase.messaging().getToken()_inside_browser",
    "notification" : {
      "body" : "This is an FCM notification message!",
      "title" : "FCM Message"
      }
   }
}

Is there a way to get the bearer token without the need of having Google.Apis.Auth Nuget Package referenced? — thomasgalliker, Aug 04 '21 at 12:58

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 28 '20 at 08:09

5

To generate an for testing push notification, you can use Google Developers OAuth 2.0 Playground

You can even send a test Push Notification using Google Developers OAuth 2.0 Playground itself. Or if you want can use Postman / Terminal (curl command) as well.

Please find the detailed steps here, which I wrote.

Note : Instead of "Project name" in the Endpoint, you have to use "Project ID". Steps for getting the Project ID is also mentioned in the above link.

answered Sep 28 '20 at 08:09

Apoorv

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does the access token expire? – Kim Carlo Oct 25 '20 at 02:13
@KimCarlo Yes, it will expire. If you notice the screenshot, it says ("The access token will expire in 3586 seconds"). However, you can click "Auto-refresh the token before it expires" or manually do "Refresh access token". – Apoorv Oct 26 '20 at 06:32
1

This is a great answer, most thorough by far. Thanks! – Fingolfin Apr 06 '21 at 12:34

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered May 25 '19 at 20:18

3

You should use definitely use Google-OAuth2.0, which can be generated using described steps in the provided link.

you can find detailed steps here, which I answered for similar question.

answered May 25 '19 at 20:18

rahulkesharwani

328
3
17

What Bearer token should I be using for Firebase Cloud Messaging testing?

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