Authentication

All Zeebe REST API requests require authentication. To authenticate, generate a JSON Web Token (JWT) and include it in each request.

Generate a token

SaaS

1. Create client credentials in the Clusters > Cluster name > API tab of Camunda Console.
2. Add permissions to this client for Zeebe.
3. Once you have created the client, capture the following values required to generate a token:

   Name	Environment variable name	Default value
   Client ID	ZEEBE_CLIENT_ID	-
   Client Secret	ZEEBE_CLIENT_SECRET	-
   Authorization Server URL	ZEEBE_AUTHORIZATION_SERVER_URL	https://login.cloud.camunda.io/oauth/token
   Audience	ZEEBE_TOKEN_AUDIENCE	zeebe.camunda.io
   Optimize REST Address	ZEEBE_REST_ADDRESS	-

   caution

   When client credentials are created, the Client Secret is only shown once. Save this Client Secret somewhere safe.

4. Execute an authentication request to the token issuer:

   curl --request POST ${ZEEBE_AUTHORIZATION_SERVER_URL} \
       --header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
       --data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials' \
       --data-urlencode "audience=${ZEEBE_TOKEN_AUDIENCE}" \
       --data-urlencode "client_id=${ZEEBE_CLIENT_ID}" \
       --data-urlencode "client_secret=${ZEEBE_CLIENT_SECRET}"
   A successful authentication response looks like the following:

   {
     "access_token": "<TOKEN>",
     "expires_in": 300,
     "refresh_expires_in": 0,
     "token_type": "Bearer",
     "not-before-policy": 0
   }
5. Capture the value of the access_token property and store it as your token.

Self-Managed

1. Add an M2M application in Identity.
2. Add permissions to this application for Zeebe API.
3. Capture the Client ID and Client Secret from the application in Identity.
4. Generate a token to access the REST API. Provide the client_id and client_secret from the values you previously captured in Identity.

   curl --location --request POST 'http://localhost:18080/auth/realms/camunda-platform/protocol/openid-connect/token' \
   --header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
   --data-urlencode "client_id=${CLIENT_ID}" \
   --data-urlencode "client_secret=${CLIENT_SECRET}" \
   --data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials'
   A successful authentication response looks like the following:

   {
     "access_token": "<TOKEN>",
     "expires_in": 300,
     "refresh_expires_in": 0,
     "token_type": "Bearer",
     "not-before-policy": 0
   }
5. Capture the value of the access_token property and store it as your token.

Use a token

Include the previously captured token as an authorization header in each request: Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>.

For example, to send a request to the Zeebe REST API's /topology endpoint:

SaaS

tip

The ${ZEEBE_REST_ADDRESS} variable below represents the URL of the Zeebe REST API. You can capture this URL when creating an API client. You can also construct it as https://${REGION}.zeebe.camunda.io/${CLUSTER_ID}/.

Self-Managed

tip

The ${ZEEBE_REST_ADDRESS} variable below represents the URL of the Zeebe REST API. You can configure this value in your Self-Managed installation. The default value is http://localhost:8080/.

curl --header "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" \
     ${ZEEBE_REST_ADDRESS}/v1/topology

A successful response includes information about the cluster. For example:

{
  "brokers": [
    ...
  ],
  "clusterSize": 3,
  "partitionsCount": 3,
  "replicationFactor": 3,
  "gatewayVersion": "8.6.0"
}

Token expiration

Access tokens expire according to the expires_in property of a successful authentication response. After this duration, in seconds, you must request a new access token.