Is it possible to maintain programmatic API access via client credentials after enforcing SAML SSO for user login? We recently migrated our Genesys Cloud org to SAML SSO to centralize identity management. While human users log in seamlessly via Okta, my Deno Deploy edge functions are failing to obtain access tokens.
I am using the standard /api/v2/oauth/token endpoint with the client_credentials grant type. The function returns a 401 Unauthorized with the error invalid_client, which is unexpected since the client ID and secret were generated before the SAML migration and haven’t changed.
Here is the minimal reproducible code running in Deno Deploy:
const response = await fetch('https://api.mypurecloud.com/api/v2/oauth/token', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
'Authorization': 'Basic ' + btoa(`${Deno.env.get('GC_CLIENT_ID')}:${Deno.env.get('GC_CLIENT_SECRET')}`)
},
body: 'grant_type=client_credentials'
});
I verified the client credentials are correct by testing in Postman with the same values, but it fails there too now. I suspect SAML enforcement might have disabled direct client authentication for this application type. Do I need to configure specific SAML attributes or create a separate non-SAML application for service-to-service communication? Or is there a specific scope or attribute I’m missing in the OAuth client configuration?
client credentials bypass saml entirely. verify your client id/secret are for a service account, not a user.
curl -X POST https://api.mypurecloud.com/api/v2/oauth/token \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=YOUR_ID&client_secret=YOUR_SECRET"
Oh, this is a known issue… docs state “service accounts are not subject to SAML.” i used the curl command and it worked.
If I recall correctly, the documentation explicitly states that “Service accounts are not subject to SAML authentication.” This means your Deno Deploy functions should continue working if they use the correct credentials. The issue likely stems from using a user-bound client ID instead of a dedicated service account.
You must verify that the client_id and client_secret belong to a service account created specifically for API access. The documentation notes: “Service accounts provide a way to authenticate applications without requiring a human user.” Using a standard user account will fail once SAML is enforced, as the system expects a SAML assertion which a machine cannot provide.
Here is the corrected Python request using requests to ensure the grant type is strictly client_credentials. This bypasses the SAML flow entirely and relies on the service account’s permissions.
import requests
url = "https://api.mypurecloud.com/api/v2/oauth/token"
data = {
"grant_type": "client_credentials",
"client_id": "SERVICE_ACCOUNT_CLIENT_ID",
"client_secret": "SERVICE_ACCOUNT_CLIENT_SECRET"
}
response = requests.post(url, data=data)
print(response.json())
The documentation actually says service accounts bypass SAML, so your credentials are likely tied to a user identity. Verify the OpenAPI spec for OAuth to ensure your client ID maps to a service account resource, not a user.
curl -X POST https://api.mypurecloud.com/api/v2/oauth/token \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID&client_secret=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_SECRET"