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Get a client credentials access token for the Recommendations API

Deprecated

The Recommendations API has been deprecated. This content will be removed from the documentation site on December 22, 2025.

Learn how to authenticate with Instacart Connect and make your first Recommendations API call in a development environment.

info

Use this access token when you are calling the API from the backend.

  1. Before you begin
  2. Generate a token

Before you begin​

For this tutorial, you need the following items:

  • Your client ID and secret
  • The base URL of your assigned Instacart development server

Generate a token​

To make requests to the API, you need a bearer token with the client_credentials grant type. To generate the token, use the authentication endpoint, specify your client ID and secret in the body, and set the scope to connect:recommendations.

curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://<instacart_development_domain>/v2/oauth/token' \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "client_id": "<your_client_id>",
  "client_secret": "<your_client_secret>",
  "grant_type": "client_credentials"
  "scope": "connect:recommendations"
}'

The response contains the generated token.

{
  "access_token": "<your_access_token>",
  "token_type": "Bearer",
  "expires_in": 86400,
  "scope": "connect:recommendations",
  "created_at": 1603897760
}
note

The token is valid for 24 hours. During this period, reuse the same token in your requests. After 24 hours, you must generate a new token.

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