WebSocket Notification API subscription persistence after token refresh

Is it possible to maintain a persistent WebSocket connection to the Genesys Cloud Notification API when using short-lived OAuth2 access tokens?

We are building a high-throughput token service that bridges SSO identity providers with Genesys Cloud. Our current implementation establishes a WebSocket connection to wss://api-us-east-1.aws.genesiscloud.com/api/v2/analytics/events/stream (or the equivalent WebSocket endpoint for conversation events) using an access token obtained via the Client Credentials grant. The documentation states:

“The client must provide a valid access token in the query string parameter ‘access_token’ when establishing the WebSocket connection.”

However, our tokens have a lifespan of 3600 seconds. The WebSocket connection remains open indefinitely, but we observe that after approximately one hour, the server begins dropping events or closing the connection with a generic close code 1000, even though the token is still technically valid for a few minutes. We cannot simply reconnect every hour because we need to ensure zero event loss for compliance auditing.

We attempted to use the Authorization: Bearer <token> header during the upgrade request, but the server rejects this with a 401 Unauthorized error, insisting on the query string method.

Here is the relevant Python snippet using websockets:

import websockets
import asyncio

async def connect_notifications(token):
 uri = f"wss://api-us-east-1.aws.genesiscloud.com/api/v2/analytics/events/stream?access_token={token}"
 try:
 async with websockets.connect(uri) as websocket:
 while True:
 message = await websocket.recv()
 process_event(message)
 except websockets.exceptions.ConnectionClosed as e:
 print(f"Connection closed: {e.code} - {e.reason}")

The error we receive when the connection drops is:

ConnectionClosed: code = 1000 (OK), reason = Token expired or invalid

Is there a documented pattern for refreshing the access token on a live WebSocket stream without breaking the connection? Or are we expected to poll the REST API for events instead, which contradicts the real-time requirements of our architecture?

WebSocket connections in Genesys Cloud do not survive token expiration. The server drops the socket immediately upon 401. You cannot “refresh” the token over the same channel. You must implement a reconnect loop. Use the platformClient SDK or raw ws library. When the connection closes, check the close code. If 1008 (Policy Violation) or 1011, fetch a new JWT via your SSO bridge. Then initiate a new WebSocket handshake with the updated Bearer token. Do not try to inject the new token into the existing socket stream; it will fail. Here is a Node.js pattern using the ws library to handle this:

const WebSocket = require('ws');
let ws;

function connect() {
 ws = new WebSocket('wss://api-us-east-1.aws.genesiscloud.com/api/v2/analytics/events/stream', {
 headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${getNewToken()}` }
 });

 ws.on('close', (code, reason) => {
 if (code === 1008) {
 console.log('Token expired. Reconnecting...');
 setTimeout(connect, 1000); // Exponential backoff recommended
 }
 });
}

This brute-force reconnect is the only reliable method. Architect Data Actions cannot maintain long-lived WS connections anyway, so this applies to your backend service.