Use Refresh Tokens

Refresh tokens are used to request a new access token and/or ID token for a user without requiring them to re-authenticate.

Typically, you should request a new access token before the previous one expires (to avoid any service interruption), but not every time you call an API, as token exchanges are subject to our Rate Limiting Policy.

You may also use a refresh token to request a new ID token for a user, and should do so if you need to refresh the claims within the ID token.

Call the API

To exchange the refresh token you received during authentication for a new access token, call the Auth0 Authentication API Get token endpoint in the Authentication API.

To learn more about the authentication methods available for the Authentication API, read Authentication Methods.

curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token' \
  --header 'authorization: Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}' \
  --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  --data grant_type=refresh_token \
  --data 'client_id={yourClientId}' \
  --data 'refresh_token={yourRefreshToken}'

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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.AddHeader("authorization", "Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}");
request.AddParameter("application/x-www-form-urlencoded", "grant_type=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D", 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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D")

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

	req.Header.Add("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
	req.Header.Add("authorization", "Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}")

	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")
  .header("authorization", "Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}")
  .body("grant_type=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D")
  .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',
    authorization: 'Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}'
  },
  data: new URLSearchParams({
    grant_type: 'refresh_token',
    client_id: '{yourClientId}',
    refresh_token: '{yourRefreshToken}'
  })
};

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",
                           @"authorization": @"Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}" };

NSMutableData *postData = [[NSMutableData alloc] initWithData:[@"grant_type=refresh_token" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_id={yourClientId}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&refresh_token={yourRefreshToken}" 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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "authorization: Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}",
    "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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D"

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

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["authorization"] = 'Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}'
request.body = "grant_type=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D"

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

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import Foundation

let headers = [
  "content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
  "authorization": "Basic {yourApplicationCredentials}"
]

let postData = NSMutableData(data: "grant_type=refresh_token".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_id={yourClientId}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&refresh_token={yourRefreshToken}".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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Use Post authentication

cURL
C#
Go
Java
Node.JS
Obj-C
...

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

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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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D", 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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D")

	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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D")
  .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: 'refresh_token',
    client_id: '{yourClientId}',
    client_secret: '{yourClientSecret}',
    refresh_token: '{yourRefreshToken}'
  })
};

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=refresh_token" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_id={yourClientId}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_secret={yourClientSecret}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&refresh_token={yourRefreshToken}" 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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D",
  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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D"

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=refresh_token&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&refresh_token=%7ByourRefreshToken%7D"

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=refresh_token".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_id={yourClientId}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_secret={yourClientSecret}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&refresh_token={yourRefreshToken}".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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Parameter definition

Parameter	Description
`grant_type`	Type of grant to execute.
`client_id`	Application's client ID.
`client_secret`	(Optional) Application's client secret. Only required for confidential applications using the Post token authentication method.
`refresh_token`	Refresh token to exchange.

The response will include a new access token, its type, its lifetime (in seconds), and the granted scopes. If the scope of the initial token included openid, then a new ID token will be in the response as well.

{
      "access_token": "eyJ...MoQ",
      "expires_in": 86400,
      "scope": "openid offline_access",
      "id_token": "eyJ...0NE",
      "token_type": "Bearer"
    }

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Bypass MFA

If Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is enabled and the refresh token exchange flow fails, you can use the below Action code to bypass the MFA logic:

exports.onExecutePostLogin = async (event, api) => {
  // This action will allow you to bypass the MFA logic for the refresh token exchange flow.

  if (event.transaction.protocol === "oauth2-refresh-token") {
    return;
  }

  //  Add your MFA logic
  //  For example: api.multifactor.enable("any");
};

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You can customize the code example when separate logic needs to be executed or bypassed depending on the current flow or protocol.

Secure

Use Refresh Tokens

Call the API

Use Basic authentication

Use Post authentication

Parameter definition

Bypass MFA

Learn more