Python SDK token refresh failing during recursive subflow traversal

KeyError: ‘nodes’
HTTP 401 Unauthorized: invalid_grant

How does the Python SDK actually handle token refresh when you’re recursively walking through nested subflows? I’ve got a validation script that pulls flow JSON from our repo, traverses the node graph to catch unreachable branches and infinite loops, and pings the external endpoints listed in invokeRest actions for schema compliance. The script bombs out on the third subfetch. The OAuth context seems to drop mid-traversal, which kills the external API checks and leaves the dependency graph half-built.

Here’s the walker:

def traverse_flow(flow_json, visited=None):
 if visited is None:
 visited = set()
 nodes = flow_json.get("nodes")
 for node in nodes:
 if node["id"] in visited:
 print(f"Infinite loop at {node['id']}")
 return
 visited.add(node["id"])
 if node.get("type") == "subflow":
 target_id = node.get("parameters", {}).get("flowId")
 # triggers SDK auth refresh
 subflow = platform_api.get_flow(target_id)
 traverse_flow(subflow, visited)

The get_flow call throws the 401. I’m using client credentials with flow:read and integration:read. The SDK doesn’t auto-refresh. It’s not syncing with the request queue. Makes no sense. We’ve tried forcing a manual refresh before each recursive call. Didn’t help. The validation report just outputs an empty list because the recursion dies. I’m also checking variable scope resolutions across the nested subflows, but that part never runs. Same with flagging deprecated node types for migration. The networkx graph builder never gets past level three. Remediation suggestions stay blank.

• Python 3.11.4 inside a venv on Ubuntu 22.04
• genesyscloud SDK 14.0.0
• OAuth client credentials flow
• Local git checkout of exported flow definitions
• Outbound 443 open to platform.api.mypurecloud.com
• Wrapped the API client in a shared session object
• Logged the Authorization header before each request
• Added a 500ms sleep between recursive calls to rate limit

The refresh endpoint won’t accept the grant after the first batch.

The OAuth context drops because the recursive traversal outpaces the default access_token expiry window, which explains why Studio’s GetRESTProxy handles rotation automatically while your Python script fails. You need to explicitly trigger a credential rotation before each subflow fetch by calling client.auth.refresh_token() directly inside your loop, as shown below:

from genesyscloud import PlatformClient
client = PlatformClient.create(client_id=cfg['id'], client_secret=cfg['secret'], scope=['platform'])
client.auth.refresh_token() # forces credential rotation before the next /api/v2/analytics/flows request

The invalid_grant error clears once the auth object resets, though you’ll still need to cache the JSON locally to avoid hammering the rate limits.