Kaizen #164 : Client Credentials

Hello everyone,

Welcome back to Kaizen. 

In this post, we will discuss Client Credentials Flow and when it can be used.

What is Client Credentials Flow?

According to RFC6749, the official specification for the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework, 

"The client credentials (or other forms of client authentication) can be used as an authorization grant when the authorization scope is limited to the protected resources under the control of the client,or to protected resources previously arranged with the authorization server. Client credentials are used as an authorization grant typically when the client is acting on its own behalf (the client is also the resource owner) or is requesting access to protected resources based on an authorization previously arranged with the authorization server."

For Zoho CRM APIs, the credentials used are client id and client secret.

When can Client Credential Flow be used?

The client credentials flow is appropriate for machine-to-machine communications in which the application does not need to act on behalf of a specific user as the program can authenticate using just their own credentials to receive an access token. Here the credentials are client id and client secret.

Compared to the flow of creating access tokens in the self client flow, the client credentials flow can be used to perform one-time tasks like one-time data migration or testing Zoho CRM API calls, etc. We recommend using self client or server-based authorization for integration purposes. The main benefit of the client credentials flow is the simplicity in creating an access token, requiring only the client ID, client secret, OAuth scopes, and SOID.

If you are a first time user of Zoho CRMs, you can get started with Zoho CRM APIs by using the client credentials flow for authorization. Head over to Zoho CRM API Collection where a Client Credentials sample is added. Make sure that you have the required request parameters available in your environment for a smooth setup.

How to obtain access token in client credentials flow?

To obtain an access token using the client credentials flow, make an API call to the following endpoint

{accounts_url}/oauth/v2/token?client_id={client_id}&client_secret={client_secret}&grant_type=client_credentials&scope={scope}&soid={org_id_or_portal_id}

Request Parameters

• grant_type: Enter the value as "client_credentials".
• client_id: Specify the client-id obtained from the connected app.
• client_secret: Specify client-secret obtained from the connected app.
• scope:  Enter the corresponding scope for the resource you want to access from the user's account. Multiple scopes can be given in comma separated format.
• soid: Enter this parameter in the format ZohoCRM.{zsoid} where zsoid is the unique ID of your org or portal. If your application has multiple orgs or portals, the token created is bound to this org or portal. For example: ZohoCRM.600xxx46

Response

If successful, the response will look something like this:

{     "access_token": "1000.b2caxxxxx3c6",     "scope": "ZohoCRM.org.ALL ZohoCRM.settings.ALL ZohoCRM.users.ALL ZohoCRM.templates.email.READ ZohoCRM.templates.inventory.READ ZohoCRM.modules.ALL",     "api_domain": "https://www.zohoapis.com",     "token_type": "Bearer",     "expires_in": 3600 }

Response Keys

• access_token: Access token to access ZohoCRM APIs.
• scope: The scope for the resource you want to access from the user's account that was provided in the parameters.
• api_domain: The domain for API requests, varies by environment (e.g., sandbox.zohoapis.{domain}).
• token_type: Type of token obtained. "Bearer" indicates this is an access token.
  
• expires_in: Time in seconds after which the access token expires.

This completes the authentication. Once your app receives the access token, send the token in your HTTP authorization header to Zoho CRM API with the value "Zoho-oauthtoken {access_token}" for each endpoint (for each request).

The response does not contain a refresh token. When an access token expires, make an API call to the same endpoint to get a new access token (if required).

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!

Previous Post: Kaizen #163 - Extension Widgets in Zoho CRM | Kaizen Collection: Directory | Help document link: Client Credentials

• Topic Participants

• Mable Mary M P

  

• Colin Small

• Sticky Posts

• 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.

• Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

• Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

• Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

• Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

• Recent Topics

• Delete button

  Hi, The delete button were hide into the three dot button. Can I display outside? why Zoho make this update?

• Zoho Vault CLI for Developers and Automations

  Hi everyone, If you're managing credentials in scripts, CI/CD pipelines, or automation workflows, Zoho Vault's Command Line Interface (CLI) can help you securely access and manage secrets directly from your terminal. Zoho Vault was launched in 2013 as

• On Edit Validation Blueprint

  Hello, I have a notes field and a signature field. When the Approve button is clicked, the Signature field will appear and must be filled in. When the Reject button is clicked, the Notes field will appear and must be filled in. Question: Blueprint will

• Zoho Subscriptions -- Zoho Commerce integration

  Is there integration between Zoho Subscriptions and Zoho Commerce? I would like to create subscription plans in Zoho Subscritpions and list them for on my Zoho Commerce store.

• Synching changes to Stripe when changes are made in Zoho Billing

  We have a situation where we have merged customers in Zoho BIlling and then found out later that the payment in Stripe was not updated and still associated with the old customer record. The card gets updated and billed, but that payment is still associated

• How can I link Products in a Deal Subform to the Products Module

  Hello, I have a pricing subform on our Deals page and use a lookup field to associate a product with each line. I want to be able to look at a product page within the Products module and see a list of the deals connected to that product. I have this working

• Help Center and SEO: Any Benefit to My Domain-Mapped Website Ranking?

  First of, I love the Help Center which I've just decided to integrate into my website to replace its old-fashioned FAQs. So much more to achieve there now! Lots of new benefits to the site visitors and to me in terms of organizing and delivering all the

• Business Hours with lunch break

  Our business hours are: mon - fri 08:30 - 13:00, 15:00 - 18:30. How can I handle the lunch break? If I use 8:30 - 18:30 it obviously breaks SLA. Thanks

• Automatically Update Ticket Status in Zoho Desk Based on Actions in Zoho Projects

  Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration to manage tasks related to customer tickets, and it works well for linking and tracking progress. However, there are a few important automation capabilities

• Zoho Desktop App- Unable to Minimize/Freezes

  I'm having issues with my Zoho Mail desktop app (PC). When go on my desktop and open the app this is what happens: - Unable to minimize and close app (in the screenshot attached you can see at the top right there is no option to minimize/close) - Unable

• Enable Free External Collaboration on Notecards in Zoho Notebook

  Hi Zoho Notebook Team, I would like to suggest a feature enhancement regarding external collaboration in Zoho Notebook. Currently, we can share notes with external users, and they are able to view the content without any issue. However, when these external

• 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

• Multi-currency in Zoho CRM Forecast and Reports

  As a company we have branches in 4 different countries with as many different currencies. Our Sales Teams would like to work with their local currency as much as possible. The Forecast module using only 1 currency is practically usable only by the sales

• Zoho Sprints iOS app update: Global view, screen capture control, file encryption, tags enhancement

  Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce new features in the latest version(v2.1) of the Zoho Sprints iOS app update. Let’s take a quick look at what’s new. 1. Global view Global view brings all your project items into one centralised space. You can

• Zoho Projects Android and iOS app update: Conditional layout rules for Tasks

  Hello everyone! Task conditional layout rules configured on the web app(projects.zoho.com) are now applied on the Zoho Projects Android and iOS app. Conditional layout rules can be set for the Add/ edit task form and it allows you to change the property

• How to account for vat with postponed VAT accounting

  Hi everyone, looking for some help with postponed VAT accounting, I use DHL express for my imports and they used to pay the VAT for me and then invoice me. I could then log this as a bill and the VAT element from import was recorded as input VAT, all

• Introducing Formula Fields for performing dynamic calculations

  Greetings, With the Formula Field, you can generate numerical calculations using provided functions and available fields, enabling you to derive dynamic data. You can utilize mathematical formulas to populate results based on the provided inputs. This

• Zobot with Plugs

  Hello, I am having a problem with Zobot using Plugs. Here is my current flow: When I run the flow, I should immediately see the messages from the initial cards (Send Message cards), then after running the plug, and finally, see the messages after the

• Is there a way to show contact emails in the Account?

  I know I can see the emails I have sent and received on a Contact detail view, but I want to be able to see all the emails that have been sent and received between all an Accounts Contacts on the Account Detail view. That way when I see the Account detail

• Invalid scope choice: Workdrive integration in CRM

  Bug: There is an invalid option in the permission choices for Workdrive integration in CRM. If the entry "WorkDrive.teamfolder.CREATE" is selected, it will return a message indicating invalid OAuth scope scope does not exist.

• Dark Mode - Font Colors Don't Work

  When editing a document in Dark Mode and selecting font colors, they don't show up on screen.  Viewing/editing the same document in Light Mode shows them just fine.

• Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift

  Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activities

• Zoho mail admin panel not opening

• Zoho CRM WooCommerce Integrtation

  Looking for a solution for my 50 client to show detailed analytics on source of traffic that led to events, leads, conversions. Hi all, I have not been able to find a workable guide or solution to how exactly step by step integrate the Zoho CRM with WooCommerce

• Attaching files to emails within CRM Deals.

  Hello, We have recently started using the extension "Workdrive for CRM" (Related List) to view/store our documents for each Deal, instead of using Attachments. Overall it feels like a better way to go but the user experience is not so great when it comes

• 500 internal server error on opening an iframe through a deluge script

  Hi Team I am trying to open an external url in an iframe through my deluge script which is associated to a custom button . By doing this i am getting an "Internal Server Error" . Please can you help me with this.

• Kaizen #225 - Making Query-based Custom Related Lists Actionable with Lookups and Links

  Hello everyone! Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series! This week, we will discuss an exciting enhancement in Queries in Zoho CRM. In Kaizen #190, we discussed how Queries bridge gaps where native related lists fall short and power custom related

• Filter button in the Zoho Sheet Android App doesn't toggle on

  I am a new Zoho Sheets user and experiencing a specific issue with the filter functionality in the Android mobile application. Detailed Issue Description: The filter icon appears correctly in the toolbar. Upon tapping the filter icon/button, the toggle

• Is Zoho Sites still actively being developed?

  Hello, Is Zoho Sites still actively being developed as part of the Zoho ecosystem? I noticed that the What's New page (https://www.zoho.com/sites/whats-new.html) does not show any updates since Q1 2025. We were considering migrating our website from Squarespace

• Project Notifcatiion Emails - Milestone

  Hello: I cannot get myself, or most importantly my portal client user to recieve an email upon completion of a milestone. I have set up our 1st project. I have set up a test client user. (accepted the invitation and is listed in the system as a client

• Zoho Forms - Feature Request - Year Field

  Hi Zoho Forms Team, You currently have the following date and time fields: Date Time Date and Time Year and Month It would be useful if you could include a "Year" field For example a recent application I completed said "What year was your house built?"

• Integrate Excel or Zoho Sheet functions / calculations to CRM product module

  Hello Community, I hope someone more experienced can help me with this question. Our price / payment plan calculations are in an Excel spreadsheet and I would like to use all those functions / calculations in my Products module. So when we send a quote

• Sync CRM Contacts to USER'S contacts on Office 365

  I can see that the O365 sync is transferring contacts backwards and forwards between Zoho CRM and Office365. But it has created a separate address book in Office 365 called "Zoho CRM Contacts". This address book is not used by Office/Outlook's email function

• Manage Every Customer Conversation from Every Channel inside Zoho SalesIQ

  Your customers message you from everywhere. But are you really able to track, manage, and follow through on every conversation, without missing anything? With interactions coming in from websites, mobile apps, and messaging platforms like WhatsApp and

• Zoho Books | Product updates | February 2026

  Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From Advanced Reporting Tags to the ability to mark projects as completed, explore the latest updates designed to improve your bookkeeping experience. Introducing Advanced Reporting

• This project could not be synced because it is not associated with a primary client

  When I go to ProjectName->Finance I receive a "This project could not be synced because it is not associated with a primary client" error. The project has been associated in ZohoCRM with the client. How can I set the primary client for this project. Other

• Update latitude & longitude address field API

  How do I update the coordinates of an address field from a widget? I can't modify the latitude and longitude of the address field. I think the problem is how I'm writing formdata variable. zoho_init.then(function (data) { var queryParams = ZOHO.CREATOR.UTIL.getQueryParams();

• Zoho Forms - Feature Request - Past Into Scanning/OCR Field

  Hi Zoho Forms Team, You recently introduced the OCR/Scanning field which I have found great use for with one client who receives work orders as a screenshot from one customer. I want to raise a feature request here which would make that field even more

• inability to use different primary address on invoice per location

  my company operates in two different locations with different email address. The problems then is the inability to edit the primary to suite the invoice for the second location.

• Use Zoho Creator as a source for merge templates in Zoho Writer

  Hello all! We're excited to share that we've enhanced Zoho Creator's integration with Zoho Writer to make this combination even more powerful. You can now use Zoho Creator as a data source for mail merge templates in Zoho Writer. Making more data from

• Next Page