Working with Refresh Tokens

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:

#!/usr/bin/env python

"""This example demonstrates the flow for retrieving a refresh token.

This tool can be used to conveniently create refresh tokens for later use with your web
application OAuth2 credentials.

To create a Reddit application visit the following link while logged into the account
you want to create a refresh token for: https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps/

Create a "web app" with the redirect uri set to: http://localhost:8080

After the application is created, take note of:

- REDDIT_CLIENT_ID; the line just under "web app" in the upper left of the Reddit
  Application
- REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET; the value to the right of "secret"

Usage:

    EXPORT praw_client_id=<REDDIT_CLIENT_ID>
    EXPORT praw_client_secret=<REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET>
    python3 obtain_refresh_token.py

"""
import random
import socket
import sys

import praw


def main():
    """Provide the program's entry point when directly executed."""
    scope_input = input(
        "Enter a comma separated list of scopes, or `*` for all scopes: "
    )
    scopes = [scope.strip() for scope in scope_input.strip().split(",")]

    reddit = praw.Reddit(
        redirect_uri="http://localhost:8080",
        user_agent="obtain_refresh_token/v0 by u/bboe",
    )
    state = str(random.randint(0, 65000))
    url = reddit.auth.url(duration="permanent", scopes=scopes, state=state)
    print(f"Now open this url in your browser: {url}")

    client = receive_connection()
    data = client.recv(1024).decode("utf-8")
    param_tokens = data.split(" ", 2)[1].split("?", 1)[1].split("&")
    params = {
        key: value for (key, value) in [token.split("=") for token in param_tokens]
    }

    if state != params["state"]:
        send_message(
            client,
            f"State mismatch. Expected: {state} Received: {params['state']}",
        )
        return 1
    elif "error" in params:
        send_message(client, params["error"])
        return 1

    refresh_token = reddit.auth.authorize(params["code"])
    send_message(client, f"Refresh token: {refresh_token}")
    return 0


def receive_connection():
    """Wait for and then return a connected socket..

    Opens a TCP connection on port 8080, and waits for a single client.

    """
    server = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    server.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
    server.bind(("localhost", 8080))
    server.listen(1)
    client = server.accept()[0]
    server.close()
    return client


def send_message(client, message):
    """Send message to client and close the connection."""
    print(message)
    client.send(f"HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n\r\n{message}".encode("utf-8"))
    client.close()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    sys.exit(main())

This script assumes you have configured your application’s redirect uri to localhost:8080

When you execute this script interactively:

  1. You will be prompted to provide a comma-separated list of scopes.

  2. You will be given a URL that will take you through the auth flow on Reddit.

  3. When you open the provided link in your browser, Reddit will ask you for permission to grant the application permissions to the scopes requested.

  4. After clicking allow, you will have a new authorized application configured.

  5. You will be redirected to another page (the application’s redirect uri) where your refresh token will be displayed and will be printed to the command line.

You only have to run this script once for each refresh token. The refresh token (along with the application’s client_id, client_secret) are valid credentials until manually revoked by the user.