PRAW and OAuth

OAuth support allows you to use reddit to authenticate on non-reddit websites. It also allows a user to authorize an application to perform different groups of actions on reddit with his account. A moderator can grant an application the right to set flair on his subreddits without simultaneously granting the application the right to submit content, vote, remove content or ban people. Before the moderator would have to grant the application total access, either by giving it the password or by modding an account controlled by the applications.

Note: Support for OAuth is added in version 2.0. This will not work with any previous edition.

A step by step OAuth guide

PRAW simplifies the process of using OAuth greatly. The following is a step-by-step OAuth guide via the interpreter. For real applications you’ll need a webserver, but for educational purposes doing it via the interpreter is superior. In the next section there is an An example webserver.

Step 1: Create an application.

Go to reddit.com’s app page, click on the “are you a developer? create an app” button. Fill out the name, description and about url. Name must be filled out, but the rest doesn’t. Write whatever you please. For redirect uri set it to http://127.0.0.1:65010/authorize_callback. All four variables can be changed later. Click create app and you should something like the following.

The random string of letters under your app’s name is its client id. The random string of letters next to secret are your client_secret and should not be shared with anybody. At the bottom is the redirect_uri.

Step 2: Setting up PRAW.

Warning

This example, like most of the PRAW examples, binds an instance of PRAW to the r variable. While we’ve made no distinction before, r (or any instance of PRAW) should not be bound to a global variable due to the fact that a single instance of PRAW cannot concurrently manage multiple distinct user-sessions.

If you want to persist instances of PRAW across multiple requests in a web application, we recommend that you create an new instance per distinct authentication. Furthermore, if your web application spawns multiple processes, it is highly recommended that you utilize PRAW’s multiprocess functionality.

We start as usual by importing the PRAW package and creating a Reddit object with a clear and descriptive useragent that follows the api rules.

>>> import praw
>>> r = praw.Reddit('OAuth testing example by u/_Daimon_ ver 0.1 see '
...                 'https://praw.readthedocs.io/en/latest/'
...                 'pages/oauth.html for source')

Next we set the app info to match what we got in step 1.

>>> r.set_oauth_app_info(client_id='stJlUSUbPQe5lQ',
...                      client_secret='DoNotSHAREWithANYBODY',
...                      redirect_uri='http://127.0.0.1:65010/'
...                                   'authorize_callback')

The OAuth app info can be automatically set, check out The Configuration Files to see how.

Step 3: Getting authorization from the user.

Now we need to have a user grant us authorization. We do this by sending them to a url, where the access we wish to be granted is listed, then they click ‘allow’ and are redirected to redirect_uri with a code in the url parameters that is needed for step 4.

The url we send them to is generated using get_authorize_url(). This takes 3 parameters. state, which is a string of your choice that represents this client, scope which are the reddit scope(s) we ask permission for (see OAuth Scopes.) and finally refreshable which determines whether we can refresh the access_token (step 6) thus gaining permanent access.

For this tutorial we will need access to the identity scope and be refreshable.

>>> url = r.get_authorize_url('uniqueKey', 'identity', True)
>>> import webbrowser
>>> webbrowser.open(url)
>>> # click allow on the displayed web page

Step 4: Exchanging the code for an access_token and a refresh_token.

After completing step 3, you’re redirected to the redirect_uri. Since we don’t have a webserver running there at the moment, we’ll see something like this. Notice the code in the url.

Now we simply exchange the code for the access information.

>>> access_information = r.get_access_information('8aunZCxfv8mcCf'
...                                               'D8no4CSlO55u0')

This will overwrite any existing authentication and make subsequent requests to reddit using this authentication unless we set the argument update_session to False.

get_access_information() returns a dict with the scope, access_token and refresh_token of the authenticated user. So later we can swap from one authenticated user to another with

>>> r.set_access_credentials(**access_information)

If scope contains identity then r.user will be set to the OAuthenticated user with r.get_access_information or set_access_credentials() unless we’ve set the update_user argument to False.

Step 5: Use the access.

Now that we’ve gained access, it’s time to use it.

>>> authenticated_user = r.get_me()
>>> print(authenticated_user.name, authenticated_user.link_karma)

Step 6: Refreshing the access_token.

An access token lasts for 60 minutes. To get access after that period, we’ll need to refresh the access token.

>>> r.refresh_access_information(access_information['refresh_token'])

This returns a dict, where the access_token key has had its value updated. Neither scope nor refresh_token will have changed.

Note: In version 3.2.0 and higher, PRAW will automatically attempt to refresh the access token if a refresh token is available when it expires. For most personal-use scripts, this eliminates the need to use refresh_access_information() except when signing in.

An example webserver

To run the example webserver, first install flask.

$ pip install flask

Then save the code below into a file called example_webserver.py, set the CLIENT_ID & CLIENT_SECRET to the correct values and run the program. Now you have a webserver running on http://127.0.0.1:65010 Go there and click on one of the links. You’ll be asked to authorize your own application, click allow. Now you’ll be redirected back and your user details will be written to the screen.

# example_webserver.py #
########################

from flask import Flask, request

import praw

app = Flask(__name__)

CLIENT_ID = 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID'
CLIENT_SECRET = 'YOUR CLIENT SECRET'
REDIRECT_URI = 'http://127.0.0.1:65010/authorize_callback'

@app.route('/')
def homepage():
    link_no_refresh = r.get_authorize_url('UniqueKey')
    link_refresh = r.get_authorize_url('DifferentUniqueKey',
                                       refreshable=True)
    link_no_refresh = "<a href=%s>link</a>" % link_no_refresh
    link_refresh = "<a href=%s>link</a>" % link_refresh
    text = "First link. Not refreshable %s</br></br>" % link_no_refresh
    text += "Second link. Refreshable %s</br></br>" % link_refresh
    return text

@app.route('/authorize_callback')
def authorized():
    state = request.args.get('state', '')
    code = request.args.get('code', '')
    info = r.get_access_information(code)
    user = r.get_me()
    variables_text = "State=%s, code=%s, info=%s." % (state, code,
                                                      str(info))
    text = 'You are %s and have %u link karma.' % (user.name,
                                                   user.link_karma)
    back_link = "<a href='/'>Try again</a>"
    return variables_text + '</br></br>' + text + '</br></br>' + back_link

if __name__ == '__main__':
    r = praw.Reddit('OAuth Webserver example by u/_Daimon_ ver 0.1. See '
                    'https://praw.readthedocs.io/en/latest/'
                    'pages/oauth.html for more info.')
    r.set_oauth_app_info(CLIENT_ID, CLIENT_SECRET, REDIRECT_URI)
    app.run(debug=True, port=65010)

OAuth Scopes.

The following list of access types can be combined in any way you please. Just pass a string containing each scope that you want (if you want several, they should be seperated by spaces, e.g. "identity submit edit") to the scope argument of the get_authorize_url method. The description of each scope is identical to the one users will see when they have to authorize your application.

Type	Description	PRAW methods
creddits	Spend my reddit gold creddits on giving gold to other users.	gild
edit	Edit and delete my comments and submissions.	edit, delete
flair	Select my subreddit flair. Change link flair on my submissions.	get_flair_choices, select_flair
history	Access my voting history and comments or submissions I’ve saved or hidden.	get_hidden, get_saved, get_upvoted, get_downvoted (the last two do not require the history scope if upvoted and downvoted posts are made public via the preferences). get_comments now also requires history.
identity	Access my reddit username and signup date.	get_me
modconfig	Manage the configuration, sidebar, and CSS of subreddits I moderate.	get_settings, set_settings, set_stylesheet, upload_image, create_subreddit, update_settings
modcontributors	Add/remove users to approved submitter lists and ban/unban users from subreddits I moderate.	add_ban, remove_ban, add_contributor, remove_contributor, add_wiki_contributor, remove_wiki_contributor, add_wiki_ban, remove_wiki_ban (the last four also require the modwiki scope)
modflair	Manage and assign flair in subreddits I moderate.	add_flair_template, clear_flair_template, delete_flair, configure_flair, flair_list, set_flair, set_flair_csv
modlog	Access the moderation log in subreddits I moderate.	get_mod_log
modothers	Invite or remove other moderators from subreddits I moderate.	add_moderator, remove_moderator
modposts	Approve, remove, mark nsfw, and distinguish content in subreddits I moderate.	approve, distinguish, remove, mark_as_nsfw, unmark_as_nsfw, undistinguish.
modself	Accept invitations to moderate a subreddit. Remove myself as a moderator or contributor of subreddits I moderate or contribute to.	accept_moderator_invite
modwiki	Change editors and visibility of wiki pages in subreddits I moderate.	add_editor, get_settings (when used on a WikiPage obejct, not a Subreddit object), edit_settings, remove_editor
mysubreddits	Access the list of subreddits I moderate, contribute to, and subscribe to.	my_contributions, my_moderation, my_reddits
privatemessages	Access my inbox and send private messages to other users.	mark_as_read, mark_as_unread, send_message, get_inbox, get_modmail, get_sent, get_unread
read	Access posts, listings and comments through my account.	get_comments, get_new_by_date (and the other listing funcs), get_submission, get_subreddit, get_content, from_url can now access things in private subreddits that the authenticated user has access to.
report	Report content for rules violations. Hide & show individual submissions.	report, hide, unhide
save	Save and unsave comments and submissions.	save, unsave
submit	Submit links and comments from my account.	add_comment, reply, submit
subscribe	Manage my subreddit subscriptions.	subscribe, unsubscribe
vote	Submit and change my votes on comments and submissions.	clear_vote, upvote, downvote, vote
wikiedit	Edit wiki pages on my behalf	edit_wiki_page
wikiread	Read wiki pages through my account.	get_wiki_page, get_wiki_pages