I’m building a custom agent desktop widget using the Genesys Cloud .NET SDK. The goal is to subscribe to conversation events via the Notification API WebSocket so we can update the UI in real-time without polling.
I have the initial OAuth2 token generation working fine. I can call GetNotificationsSubscription() to get the WebSocket URL. The connection establishes successfully when I use the initial access token.
The problem happens when the token expires. My code catches the 401 Unauthorized error from the WebSocket server. I then refresh the token using the refresh token grant flow. I get a new valid access token. I then try to reconnect to the same WebSocket URL.
Here is the relevant C# snippet for the reconnection logic:
var newToken = await _authService.RefreshTokenAsync();
var wsUrl = _currentSubscription.Uri;
// Attempting to reconnect with new token
var client = new WebSocketClient(new Uri(wsUrl));
client.Options.SetRequestHeader("Authorization", $"Bearer {newToken}");
try
{
await client.ConnectAsync();
Console.WriteLine("Reconnected successfully");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Reconnection failed: {ex.Message}");
}
The ConnectAsync() call throws an exception. The WebSocket server closes the connection immediately. The debug log shows the server sends a close frame with status 1008 (Policy Violation) or sometimes just drops it.
I’ve verified the new token is valid by calling the /api/v2/users/me endpoint, which returns 200 OK. So the token itself is good.
Is there a specific header I’m missing? Or does the WebSocket URL change after a token refresh? The documentation mentions the subscription URI is stable, but maybe the session context is tied to the old token.
Any ideas on how to handle this token rotation gracefully?
The issue isn’t the token refresh logic itself, it’s how you’re feeding the new token to the WebSocket layer. GetNotificationsSubscription() returns a static URL with a query parameter that was valid at the time of the call. That URL doesn’t magically update when your background refresh job kicks in. You’re sending an expired signature to a server that expects the current one.
If you’re using the Embeddable Client App SDK or the underlying PureCloudPlatformClientV2 directly, you shouldn’t be managing the WebSocket lifecycle manually unless you absolutely have to. The SDK handles the re-authentication handshake internally if you let it. But if you’re building a raw WebSocket connection from the returned URL, you need to re-fetch the subscription URL after the token refresh completes.
Here’s the flow you should implement in your .NET service:
- Catch the
401 Unauthorized or the WebSocket close event with code 1008 (Policy Violation).
- Trigger your OAuth refresh flow.
- Immediately call
GetNotificationsSubscription() again using the new access token.
- Re-initialize your WebSocket client with the new URL.
Don’t try to inject the new token into the existing socket connection. It won’t work. The server side validates the signature embedded in the URL path/params.
// Pseudo-code for the refresh handler
private async Task ReconnectWebSocketAsync()
{
var newToken = await _authService.RefreshTokenAsync();
// Critical step: Get a fresh URL with the new token's signature
var subscription = await _platformClient.NotificationsApi.GetNotificationsSubscription();
var newUrl = subscription.Resource;
_webSocket = new ClientWebSocket();
await _webSocket.ConnectAsync(new Uri(newUrl), CancellationToken.None);
Console.WriteLine("Reconnected with fresh token signature.");
}
Also check your scopes. If you’re using a custom OAuth client for the desktop widget, ensure it has notifications:subscribe and notifications:conversation. Missing that scope will give you a 403, which looks suspiciously like a 401 if you’re not logging the exact status code. The SDK throws a generic auth exception if the token is stale, but the API returns specific codes for scope issues. Make sure you’re distinguishing between the two in your catch blocks.