OAuth Desktop and Web Application Flows

  • This guide explains how to set up OAuth2 for Google Ads API access using your own credentials through either a desktop or web flow.

  • You'll need to create OAuth2 credentials by configuring a Google API Console project and noting your client ID and secret.

  • The setup involves running a client library example that guides you through an authorization process using your Google account.

  • Upon successful authorization, you'll receive a refresh token and instructions to configure your client library with the necessary properties.

This guide walks you through how to set up OAuth 2.0 for API access using your own credentials and either the desktop flow or the web flow. These steps only need to be done once, unless you revoke, delete, or need to change the allowed scopes for your OAuth 2.0 credentials.

Create OAuth 2.0 credentials

  1. Follow the steps to configure a Google API Console project for the Google Ads API.

  2. Note the client ID and client secret, then come back to this page.

Set up the client library

  1. In a terminal, run the GenerateUserCredentials code example, which prompts you for your OAuth 2.0 client ID and client secret.

    php GenerateUserCredentials.php

  2. The code example prompts you to visit a URL where you must authorize your app to access your Google Ads account on your behalf.

    Paste this URL in your browser:
https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth?response_type=code&access_type=offline&client_id=...

    Navigate to the URL in a private browser session or an incognito window. Sign in with the Google Account you use to access Google Ads. Usually, this is a login email to a Google Ads manager account that contains all the accounts you need to manage under its account hierarchy. Click Continue on the OAuth 2.0 consent screen.

    OAuth 2.0 consent screen

    You'll be taken to a page with a message indicating that the authorization succeeded.

    Your refresh token has been fetched. Check the console output for further
instructions.

  3. Return to the console where you're running the code example. You'll see that the code example has completed and is displaying your refresh token and some instructions, followed by the instructions you'll need to follow to configure the client library:

    Your refresh token is: 1/Yw**********
Copy the text below into a file named "google_ads_php.ini" in your home directory, and
  replace "INSERT_DEVELOPER_TOKEN_HERE" with your developer token:

[GOOGLE_ADS]
developerToken = "INSERT_DEVELOPER_TOKEN_HERE"
[OAUTH2]
Copy the following lines to your 'google_ads_php.ini' file:
clientId = "***********************apps.googleusercontent.com"
clientSecret = "****"
refreshToken = "****"