Node (Express) API: Using your API

Gravatar for david.patrick@auth0.com
By David Patrick

This tutorial will show you how to use your API. We recommend that you log in to follow this quickstart with examples configured for your account.

Calling the API From Your Application

You can call the API from your application by passing an Access Token in the Authorization header of your HTTP request as a Bearer token.


curl --request GET \
  --url http://localhost:3010/api/private \
  --header 'authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

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var client = new RestClient("http://localhost:3010/api/private");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
request.AddHeader("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN");
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);

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/
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "http://localhost:3010/api/private"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	req.Header.Add("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

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/
HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("http://localhost:3010/api/private")
  .header("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")
  .asString();

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/
var axios = require("axios").default;

var options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'http://localhost:3010/api/private',
  headers: {authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'}
};

axios.request(options).then(function (response) {
  console.log(response.data);
}).catch(function (error) {
  console.error(error);
});

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/
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSDictionary *headers = @{ @"authorization": @"Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" };

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://localhost:3010/api/private"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"GET"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];

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/
$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_PORT => "3010",
  CURLOPT_URL => "http://localhost:3010/api/private",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

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/
import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPConnection("localhost:3010")

headers = { 'authorization': "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" }

conn.request("GET", "/api/private", headers=headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))

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/
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("http://localhost:3010/api/private")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)
request["authorization"] = 'Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

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/
import Foundation

let headers = ["authorization": "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"]

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "http://localhost:3010/api/private")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "GET"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()

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Obtaining an Access Token

If you are calling the API from a Single-Page Application or a Mobile/Native application, after the authorization flow is completed, you will get an Access Token. How you get the token and how you make the call to the API will be dependent on the type of application you are developing and the framework you are using. For more information refer to the relevant application Quickstarts which contain detailed instructions:

If you are calling the API from a command-line tool or another service, where there isn't a user entering their credentials, you need to use the OAuth Client Credentials flow. To do that, register a Machine to Machine Application, and then subsequently use the Client ID and Client Secret of this application when making the request below and pass those along in the client_id and client_secret parameters respectively. Also include the Audience for the API you want to call.


curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token' \
  --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  --data grant_type=client_credentials \
  --data 'client_id={yourClientId}' \
  --data client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET \
  --data audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER

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/
var client = new RestClient("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
request.AddHeader("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
request.AddParameter("application/x-www-form-urlencoded", "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=%24%7Baccount.clientId%7D&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER", ParameterType.RequestBody);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);

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/
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token"

	payload := strings.NewReader("grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=%24%7Baccount.clientId%7D&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

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/
HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")
  .header("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
  .body("grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=%24%7Baccount.clientId%7D&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER")
  .asString();

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/
var axios = require("axios").default;

var options = {
  method: 'POST',
  url: 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token',
  headers: {'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'},
  data: new URLSearchParams({
    grant_type: 'client_credentials',
    client_id: '{yourClientId}',
    client_secret: 'YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET',
    audience: 'YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER'
  })
};

axios.request(options).then(function (response) {
  console.log(response.data);
}).catch(function (error) {
  console.error(error);
});

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/
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSDictionary *headers = @{ @"content-type": @"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" };

NSMutableData *postData = [[NSMutableData alloc] initWithData:[@"grant_type=client_credentials" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_id={yourClientId}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];
[request setHTTPBody:postData];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];

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/
$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=%24%7Baccount.clientId%7D&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

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/
import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("")

payload = "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=%24%7Baccount.clientId%7D&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER"

headers = { 'content-type': "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" }

conn.request("POST", "/{yourDomain}/oauth/token", payload, headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))

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/
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'
require 'openssl'

url = URI("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true
http.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["content-type"] = 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
request.body = "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=%24%7Baccount.clientId%7D&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

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/
import Foundation

let headers = ["content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"]

let postData = NSMutableData(data: "grant_type=client_credentials".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_id={yourClientId}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&audience=YOUR_API_IDENTIFIER".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers
request.httpBody = postData as Data

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()

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/

For testing purposes, you can also get an Access Token from the Test tab in your API settings.

Test Your API

1. Calling the secure endpoint

You can make a request to the /api/private endpoint without passing any Access Token:


curl --request GET \
  --url http://localhost:3010/api/private

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/
var client = new RestClient("http://localhost:3010/api/private");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);

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/
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "http://localhost:3010/api/private"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

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/
HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("http://localhost:3010/api/private")
  .asString();

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/
var axios = require("axios").default;

var options = {method: 'GET', url: 'http://localhost:3010/api/private'};

axios.request(options).then(function (response) {
  console.log(response.data);
}).catch(function (error) {
  console.error(error);
});

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/
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://localhost:3010/api/private"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"GET"];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];

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/
$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_PORT => "3010",
  CURLOPT_URL => "http://localhost:3010/api/private",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

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/
import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPConnection("localhost:3010")

conn.request("GET", "/api/private")

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))

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/
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("http://localhost:3010/api/private")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

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/
import Foundation

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "http://localhost:3010/api/private")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "GET"

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()

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/

The API will return a 401 HTTP (Unauthorized) status code:

Response for unauthorized API request

Once again, make the same request but this time pass along the Access Token as a Bearer token in the Authorization header of the request:


curl --request GET \
  --url http://localhost:3010/api/private \
  --header 'authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

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/
var client = new RestClient("http://localhost:3010/api/private");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
request.AddHeader("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN");
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);

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/
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "http://localhost:3010/api/private"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	req.Header.Add("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

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/
HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("http://localhost:3010/api/private")
  .header("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")
  .asString();

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/
var axios = require("axios").default;

var options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'http://localhost:3010/api/private',
  headers: {authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'}
};

axios.request(options).then(function (response) {
  console.log(response.data);
}).catch(function (error) {
  console.error(error);
});

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/
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSDictionary *headers = @{ @"authorization": @"Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" };

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://localhost:3010/api/private"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"GET"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];

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/
$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_PORT => "3010",
  CURLOPT_URL => "http://localhost:3010/api/private",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

Was this helpful?

/
import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPConnection("localhost:3010")

headers = { 'authorization': "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" }

conn.request("GET", "/api/private", headers=headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))

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/
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("http://localhost:3010/api/private")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)
request["authorization"] = 'Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

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/
import Foundation

let headers = ["authorization": "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"]

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "http://localhost:3010/api/private")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "GET"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()

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/

This time the API will return a successful response:

Response for authorized API request

2. Testing the scoped endpoint

To test the endpoint that requires a scope, pass the Access Token containing the correct scope as a Bearer token in the Authorization header:


curl --request GET \
  --url http://localhost:3010/api/private-scoped \
  --header 'authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

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/
var client = new RestClient("http://localhost:3010/api/private-scoped");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
request.AddHeader("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN");
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);

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/
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "http://localhost:3010/api/private-scoped"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	req.Header.Add("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

Was this helpful?

/
HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("http://localhost:3010/api/private-scoped")
  .header("authorization", "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN")
  .asString();