# Authentication

## Overview

This section outlines the steps to generate an access token for calling the Mirakl Connect Channel APIs.

Authentication
## Requesting the APIs credentials

Before starting, request a **client ID** and **client secret** from your Mirakl Partner team contact. Securely store these credentials, as they enable your integration to generate the access token.

## Generating and using the access token

This section explains how to use the provided credentials to generate access tokens and call the Mirakl Connect Channel APIs.

### Generating the access token

To obtain the access token, call the Mirakl Authentication System as follows:

| Field | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| Method | `POST` |
| Endpoint | `https://auth.mirakl.net/oauth/token` |
| Content-Type | `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` |
| Parameters | - `grant_type`: must be equal to `client_credentials`- `client_id`: your client ID- `client_secret`: your client secretAll parameters are mandatory. |


If everything works as expected, the Mirakl Authentication System:

* Generates an access token
* Returns a 200 status with a JSON response structured as follows:



```json
{
  "token_type": "Bearer",
  "access_token": "***********",
  "expires_in": 3599,
  "target_app": "",
  "resource_owner": ""
}
```

| Field | Description |
|  --- | --- |
| `token_type` | Type of token. In this workflow, the token is always a "Bearer" type token |
| `access_token` | The Bearer token required to call the Mirakl Connect API |
| `expires_in` | The token's Time To Live (TTL), in seconds |


**Best practice**

The access token is valid for a defined period. It is best practice to run this process a few minutes before the `expires_in` value.

### Using the access token

To call the APIs to which you have access, send an **"Authorization" HTTP header** in the following format: `Authorization: Bearer <access-token>`

The [REST APIs reference](/content/product/connect-channel-platform/rest/connect/openapi3) provides all the information you need to use the APIs.