Kaizen #168 - Incremental Authorization

Kaizen #168 - Incremental Authorization


Welcome to this week's post in the Kaizen series. In this post, we will discuss Incremental Authorization. 

What is Incremental Authorization?

Incremental Authorization is an OAuth strategy that allows a client to request specific authorization scopes as and when needed. This means that the client does not have to request every possible scope that might be needed upfront, which might result in a bad user experience. Incremental Authorization is considered a best practice in Oauth Authorization Request as:
  • Users are not overloaded with scopes in the initial stage
  • Users can control the amount of data they share

Who can use Incremental Authorization?

Server-based applications can make use of incremental authorization 

Incremental Authorization Flow

Incremental Authorization Flow

When a user first signs into the application, the application requests only the essential permissions needed. The user may trigger features that require additional permissions as they engage with the application. When the application identifies this, it follows the below steps:

Initiation Request (Step 1: Get Scope Enhancement Token )

The application makes a POST request to the endpoint /oauth/v2/token/scopeenhance, including the existing refresh token as a parameter. This request is aimed at obtaining a scope enhancement token, which is necessary for requesting additional permissions.

Scope Enhancement Request (Step 2)

After receiving the scope enhancement token, the app then makes a request to the endpoint /oauth/v2/token/addextrascope. In this request, it specifies which additional scopes are needed.

User Consent

The user is presented with a consent screen that details the new permissions being requested. This screen will only show the new permissions required and not those already granted.
If the user approves these new permissions, the refresh token (used in Step 1) and its associated access tokens will be updated to include the newly granted scopes.

Success Response

Upon successful approval by the user, a success response is returned, confirming that the additional scopes have been appended to the existing refresh token.

When is Incremental Authorization Useful?

Let us take a look at two scenarios where incremental authorization is particularly useful.

Scenario 1 

Zylker Marketing, a marketing agency, utilizes a custom in-house marketing tool that integrates with Zoho CRM.  Initially, the tool has permission to read Leads in Zoho CRM. However, as the marketing team expands their operations, they realize that they require to create new Contacts based on sign-ups and retrieve existing deals data for analysis. The tool is then revamped to create Contacts and view Deals data. 
When a marketer who uses the tool tries to create a Contact for the first time, the incremental authorization method is called in the backend. The marketer is redirected to the Zoho login page. Once logged in, the marketer is prompted to give access to the new resources. This enhances the refresh token, and the tool can continue using the same refresh token. 

Scenario 2

Consider that you want to use a new Zoho CRM API that just got released as part of the version release. Your refresh token does not have the required scope to access the new API.  You can make use of incremental authorization to append the required scope to the same refresh token in these cases.

How can you use Incremental Authorization?

Step 1: Initiation Request 

First, you need to send a request to get the scope enhancement token along with the refresh token for which the extra access is required.

Request format

POST 
{accounts-url}/oauth/v2/token/scopeenhance
?grant_type=update_scopes_token
&client_id={client_id}
&client_secret={client_secret}
&refresh_token={refresh_token}


The accounts-url is specific to the location (i.e., datacenter) where the client is registered. See all the server-specific URLs.
Request Parameters 
You should send the initiation request with the below parameters. All parameters are mandatory
  • grant_type: Specify the value as "update_scopes_token".
  • client_id: Specify the client-id obtained from the API console.
  • client_secret: Specify client-secret obtained from the API console.
  • refresh_token: Specify the refresh token to which the additional scopes should be appended.
You will receive a response in the below format
{
"access_token": "{scope_enhancement_token}",
"token_type": "update_scope",
"expires_in": 600
}

The scope_enhancement_token received in this response should be passed as a parameter in the next step - scope enhancement request.

Step 2: Scope enhancement request

This request appends the refresh token with additional scopes.
Request format
GET
{accounts-url}/oauth/v2/token/addextrascope
?response_type=update_scopes
&client_id={client_id}
&redirect_uri={redirect_uri}
&scope={required_scopes}
&enhance_token={scope_enhancement_token}
&logout=true

Parameters
  • response_type: Specify the value as "update_scopes".
  • client_id: Specify the client-id obtained from the API console.
  • redirect_uri : Specify the URI to which the authorization server will redirect the browser back with success or failure response. It has to be the same URI which is provided when registering the app in the API console.
  • scope: Specify the scopes of the additional resources for which access is required.
  • enhance_token: Scope enhancement token received in the response of the previous initiation request. 
  • logout: Specify as true if the user's session should be terminated after the permission is granted or rejected.
When this request is called, the application redirects the user to the Zoho Login page, and the user enters the Zoho credentials. Then, the permissions required are displayed once the user is authenticated.
The refresh token will be appended with the additional scopes, and a success response will be returned when the user grants permission. The user will be redirected to the redirect_uri with params status as success and scope_enhanced as true. The user can continue using the same refresh token can be used. If the user rejects the authentication, the system returns a failure response.  The user will be redirected to the redirect_uri with params error as access_denied.

You will receive a response in the below formats:

Success Response
{redirect_uri}?status=success&scope_enhanced=true

Failure Response
{redirect_uri}?error=access_denied

We hope you found this post useful. We will meet you next week with another interesting topic!
If you have any questions, let us know in the comment section.
Cheers!


    • Sticky Posts

    • Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

      🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

      Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post

      Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQs

    • Kaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API

      🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!

      Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands

    • Recent Topics

    • Zoho Campaigns - Why do contacts have owners?

      When searching for contacts in Zoho Campaigns I am sometimes caught out when I don't select the filter option "Inactive users". So it appears that I have some contacts missing, until I realise that I need to select that option. Campaigns Support have

    • One Contact with Multiple Accounts with Portal enabled

      I have a contact that manages different accounts, so he needs to see the invoices of all the companies he manage in Portal but I found it not possible.. any idea? I tried to set different customers with the same email contact with the portal enabled and

    • End Date in Zoho Bookings

      When I give my appointments a 30 minutes time I would expect the software not to even show the End Time.  But it actually makes the user pick an End Time.  Did I just miss a setting?  

    • Zoho Commerce

      Hi, I have zoho one and use Zoho Books. I am very interested in Zoho Commerce , especially with how all is integrated but have a question. I do not want my store to show prices for customers that are not log in. Is there a way to hide the prices if not

    • email forwarding not working

      Your email forwarding service does not work. I received the confirmation email and completed the confirmation, after that nothing and nothing since no matter what I have tried. Shame as everything else was smooth. I spose it's harder to run one of these web based internet mail services than you guys thought!!! can you fix the email forwarding asap PLEASE!

    • Google Ads Conversions Not Being Tracked in Zoho CRM

      We have 3 different conversions created in our Google Ads Account. Only one of the 3 conversion types is tracking in Zoho CRM. Our forms are Elementor Forms that are mapped into Zoho CRM. It apprears to me that all leads are showing up in Zoho CRM, but

    • Enable Locations for Expense

      Hi, please enable Locations (ex Branches) for Zoho Expense so that there is consistency between this app and Zoho Books. Thanks in advance.

    • Currency abbreviations

      Hello, Im stuck, and need help. I need the currency fields for example, opportunity value, or total revenue, to be abbreviated, lets say for 1,000 - 1K, 1,000,000 - 1M, and so on, how should I do this?

    • in the Zoho Creator i have File Upload field get the file on submission of the form Get the File and upload to Zoho Books

      in the Zoho Creator i have File Upload field get the file on submission of the form Get the File and upload to Zoho Books . how I get the file From zoho creator and upload to Zoho Books . using Api response = invokeUrl [ url: "https://www.zohoapis.com/creator/v2.1/data/hh/l130/report/All_Customer_Payments/"+input.ID

    • Generate a link for Zoho Sign we can copy and use in a separate email

      Please consider adding functionality that would all a user to copy a reminder link so that we can include it in a personalized email instead of sending a Zoho reminder. Or, allow us to customize the reminder email. Use Case: We have clients we need to

    • Syntax for URLs in HTML Snippets

      What are some best practices for inserting a URL in an HTML snippet? I've looked at Zoho Help articles on navigation-based and functional-based URLs, but I'm still unclear on how to incorporate them in an HTML snippet. For example, 1. How do I link to

    • Rate Limiting in Zoho Flow (OpenAI API)

      Hi Everyone, We are facing some issues when using Zoho Flow as we have a deluge script running which is making external calls to OpenAI endpoint. Sometimes the response takes more than 30 seconds meaning the script will timeout. We want to implement a

    • Placing a condition before converting the LEAD

      Hi,  I need some assistance with Lead conversion. I need to place certain conditions before allowing the user to convert the lead.  For example: up until the certain status's doesn't equal "green" don't allow to convert lead.  I tried creating this using

    • it is possible to open a widget via deluge script function

      I have one function that is workflow action I call my fucntion I need to call the internal widget it is possible to open or it have to please tell me the solution

    • Creator - Portal Custom Domain

      I will pay $100 in crypto to anyone who can actually get my Creator Custom Domain to function (actually tell me how you got yours to).  Domain verifies, Nothing. I've been fighting it a week, multiple chats to customer service. Clearly I'm doing something wrong.  Some datapoints Domain name itself unimportant, can be a string of numbers.  I need to know what registrars are working for you because GoDaddy does NOT.  Do I need hosting? I've tried both ways and nothing works.  I pushed through Cloudflare

    • steps and options to change Domain DNS/Nameservers settings

      Please share the options or steps to change  Domain DNS/Nameservers settings 

    • Employees in Leave Policy exceptions

      In the Leave Policies we should be able to add specific employees to the exception list So it will be like All Employees except A,B,C in the exception list, currently we can only add departments etc

    • Searching customer field

      Hello, When entering a receipt, we select customer information. The customer information is synced with Zoho CRM. However, we can't find the customer information because it searches for words that begin with the entered value. It needs to search for words

    • How I set default email addresses for Sales Orders and Invoices

      I have customers that have different departments that handle Sales Orders and Invoices. How can i set a default email for Sales Orders that's different than the default email for Invoices? Is there a way I can automate this using the Contact Persons Departments

    • Modular Permission Levels

      We need more modular Permissions per module in Books we have 2 use cases that are creating problems We need per module export permission we have a use case where users should be able to view the sales orders but not export it, but they can export other

    • Kaizen #157: Flyouts in Client Script

      Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting edition of our Kaizen series, where we explore fresh insights and innovative ideas to help you discover more and expand your knowledge!In this post, we'll walk through how to display Flyouts in Client Script

    • How get stock name from other column ?

      How get stock name from other column ? e.g. =STOCK(C12;"price") where C12 is the code of the stock

    • Adding a developer for editing the client application with a single user license

      Hi, I want to know that I as a developer I developed one application and handed over to the customer who is using the application on a single user license. Now after6 months customer came back to me and needs some changes in the application. Can a customer

    • Download an email template in html code

      Hello everyone, I have created an email template and I want to download it as html. How can i do that? I know you can do it via the campaigns-first create a campaign add the template and download it as html from there. But what if i don't want to create

    • Attachment is not included in e-mails sent through Wordpress

      I have a Wordpress site with Zeptomail Wordpress plugin installed and configured. E-mails are sent ok through Zeptomail but without the included attachment (.pdf file) Zeptomail is used to send tickets to customers through Zeptomail. E-Mails are generated

    • Upcoming Changes to the Timesheet Module

      The Timesheet module will undergo a significant change in the upcoming weeks. To start with, we will be renaming Timesheet module to Time Logs. This update will go live early next week. Significance of this change This change will facilitate our next

    • Best way to schedule bill payments to vendors

      I've integrated Forte so that I can convert POs to bills and make payments to my vendors all through Books. Is there a way to schedule the bill payments as some of my vendors are net 30, net 60 and even net 90 days. If I can't get this to work, I'll have

    • Cant update image field after uploading image to ZFS

      Hello i recently made an application in zoho creator for customer service where customers could upload their complaints every field has been mapped from creator into crm and works fine except for the image upload field i have tried every method to make

    • Billing Management: #4 Negate Risk Free with Advances

      In the last post, we explored how unbilled charges accumulate before being invoiced. But what happens when businesses need money before service begins? Picture this: A construction company takes on a $500,000 commercial building project expected to last

    • Is there an equivalent to the radius search in RECRUIT available in the CRM

      We have a need to find all Leads and/or Contacts within a given radius of a given location (most likely postcode) but also possibly an address. I was wondering whether anyone has found a way to achieve this in the CRM much as the radius search in RECRUIT

    • Zoho CRM Inventory Management

      What’s the difference between Zoho CRM’s inventory management features and Zoho Inventory? When is it better to use each one?

    • Cannot Enable Picklist Field Dependency in Products or Custom Modules – Real Estate Setup

      Hello Zoho Support, I am configuring Zoho CRM for real estate property management and need picklist field dependency: What I’ve tried: I started by customizing the Products module (Setup > Modules & Fields) to create “Property Type” (Housing, Land, Commercial)

    • Get Workflow Metadata via API

      Is there a way to get metadata on workflows and/or custom functions via API? I would like to automatically pull this information. I couldn't find it in the documentations, but I'm curious if there is an undocumented endpoint that could do this. Moderation

    • Zoho Projects - Q2 Updates | 2025

      Hello Users, With this year's second quarter behind us, Zoho Projects is marching towards expanding its usability with a user-centered, more collaborative, customizable, and automated attribute. But before we chart out plans for what’s next, it’s worth

    • FSM setup

      So we have been tinkering with FSM to see if it is going to be for us. Now is the time to bite the bullet and link it to our zoho books and zoho crm. The help guides are good but it would really help if they were a bit more in depth on the intergrations.

    • Upcoming Updates to the Employees Module in Zoho Payroll (US)

      We've made a couple of updates to the Employees module in Zoho Payroll (latest version of the US edition). These changes will go live today. While creating an employee Currently, the Compensation Details section is part of the Basic Details step, where

    • Possible to Turn Off Automatic Notifications for Approvals?

      Hello, This is another question regarding the approval process. First a bit of background: Each of our accounts is assigned a rank based on potential sales. In Zoho, the account rank field is a drop-down with the 5 rank levels and is located on the account

    • ZOHO Creator subform link

      Dear Community Support, I am looking for some guidance on how to add a clickable link within a Zoho Creator subform. The goal is for this link to redirect users to another Creator form where they can edit the data related to the specific row they clicked

    • Allow Resource to Accept or Reject an Appointment

      I have heard that this can be done, is there any documentation on how?

    • Create new Account with contact

      Hi I can create a new Account and, as part of that process, add a primary contact (First name, last name) and Email. But THIS contact does NOT appear in Contacts. How can I make sure the Contact added when creating an Account is also listed as a Contact?

    • Next Page