Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

What's the easiest way to authorize calls to the LiveChat API?

For fast and easy authorization, we recommend Personal Access Tokens (PATs).

Can I use the same access token to make calls to all APIs?

No. Making calls to the Customer Chat API requires you to use a different token than for all other APIs. Read about agent authorization flows and customer authorization flows.

Authorizing requests with a Personal Access Token doesn't work

Remember, PATs use the Basic authentication scheme. Make sure you're not using something else, for example Bearer.
Ensure you're not using a PAT to authorize a call to the Customer Chat API. If that's what you want to achieve, see How can I make calls to the Customer Chat API?
Check if your PAT is valid, complete, and has all necessary scopes. You can use our Token Debugger.

How does HelpDesk authorization work?

The authentication and authorization system for HelpDesk API is shared with LiveChat.

How can I make calls to the Customer Chat API?

You need to create a customer. Then, you'll use the access token of this customer to authorize your calls to the Customer Chat API. To create a customer, send a request described in Creating a new customer.

The access token of my customer has expired. Do I need to create a new customer?

You don't have to create a new customer. You can request a new access token for the customer of a specific entity_id. entity_id is returned in the response when creating a customer. To get a new access token for your customer, send the following request:

curl 'https://accounts.livechat.com/customer/' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
-X POST \
-d '{
  "client_id": "<CLIENT_ID_OF_YOUR_APP>",
  "response_type": "token",
  "redirect_uri": "<URI_YOU_DEFINED_IN_DEVELOPER_CONSOLE>",
  "entity_id": "<ENTITY_ID_OF_YOUR_CUSTOMER>"
}'

It's the same request as the one to create a new customer. The only difference is that it has an additional parameter, entity_id.

Errors

I get the "Invalid access token" error

Perhaps, you're trying to authorize your call to the Customer Chat API with an access token valid for the Agent Chat API & Configuration API, or the other way round.
- Get a token for Agent Chat and Configuration APIs
- Get a token for Customer Chat API
Check if you copy-pasted the token correctly.
Check if your access token contains %3A. If it does, change it to : (a colon).
If you still can't solve the problem, try acquiring a new token. You can follow along our guide, which explains how to make a call to the Agent Chat API and presents the token acquisition in detail.
To check if your token is valid, complete, and has all necessary scopes, you can use our Token Debugger. You can't use this tool to check an access token of a customer.

I get the "Invalid message" error

Make sure the body of your request is in the JSON format.
Make sure you've got all the commas, quotation marks, and brackets correct.
Compare the payload of your request with the corresponding sample request in the documentation.

I get the "The client is not authorized to request a token using this method" error

You may get this error when trying to exchange an expired code for token in the OAuth flow. It's because code is only valid for a few minutes after the creation. What's more, it can be exchanged for an access or refresh token only once.

I get the "The request is missing a required parameter, includes an invalid parameter value, includes a parameter more than once, or is otherwise malformed." error

Make sure the response_type value matches the client type of your application. It should be code for server-side apps and token for web apps.
Ensure the client_id param matches the Client ID of your app. You can find it in the Developer Console.
Make sure redirect_uri matches the URI you defined in the Developer Console, including the slash at the end if you used it.

Here is a sample URL for the web client type:

CLIENT TYPE URL EXAMPLE

Copied!

https://accounts.livechat.com/
  ?response_type=token
  &client_id=<APP-CLIENT-ID>
  &redirect_uri=http://my-application.com/

Here is a sample URL for the server-side client type:

SERVER-SIDE CLIENT TYPE URL EXAMPLE

Copied!

https://accounts.livechat.com/
  ?response_type=code
  &client_id=<APP-CLIENT-ID>
  &redirect_uri=https://my-application.com/

Authorization errors

All authorization errors redirect to the error page https://accounts.livechat.com/ooops, while authentication errors redirect to the login page https://accounts.livechat.com/.

Errors codes are returned in the query strings, in form of the oauth_exception parameter (for authorization errors) or identity_exception param (for authentication errors). Additional exception_details may be passed with detailed information.

`invalid_request`

The request is missing a required parameter, includes an invalid parameter value, includes a parameter more than once, or is otherwise malformed. Possible reasons:

wrong HTTP method
invalid HTTP body encoding

`unauthorized_client`

The client is not authorized to request a token using this method. Possible reasons:

missing client ID
client ID not found
refresh token not found
invalid client secret
invalid redirect URI

`access_denied`

The resource owner or authorization server denied the request. Possible reasons:

the requested scopes include a scope that wasn't originally granted by the resource owner

Not helpful? See access_denied in Authentication errors.

`unsupported_response_type`

The authorization server does not support obtaining a token using this method. Possible reasons:

response type is not code or token

`invalid_scope`

The requested scope is invalid, insufficient, unknown or malformed. Possible reasons:

scope not found
scope name not found
an app requires the administrator scopes, but instead, an agent user was logged in

`server_error`

The authorization server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request. Possible reasons:

server down
server storage down

Not helpful? See server_error in Authentication errors.

`temporarily_unavailable`

The authorization server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. Currently not used.

`unsupported_grant_type`

The authorization grant type is not supported by the authorization server.

using disabled authorization grant type, for example client credentials grant; read more...

`invalid_grant`

The provided authorization grant (e.g., authorization code, resource owner credentials) or refresh token is invalid, expired, revoked, does not match the redirection URI used in the authorization request, or was issued to another client. Possible reasons:

refresh token expired
access token expired

`invalid_client`

Client authentication failed (e.g., unknown client, no client authentication included, or unsupported authentication method). Possible reasons:

using refresh token with wrong client id

`missing_grant`

The client is missing granted rights. Possible reasons:

grants were rejected
grants were never given
client changed required grants

Exception details

client_id_not_found - wrong client ID, client id does not exists

redirect_uri_not_set - client misconfiguration, the client has not set a redirect URI

invalid_redirect_uri - redirect URI is not one of the client's allowed redirects

too_many_redirects - the server has detected a redirect loop; the client shouldn't redirect too many times

Authentication errors

`invalid_request`

The request is missing a required parameter, includes an invalid parameter value, includes a parameter more than once, or is otherwise malformed.

Not helpful? See invalid_request in Authorization errors.

`unauthorized`

The request is valid, but identity data is wrong or identity does not exist. If identity id is known, it's added to querystring as entity_id.

`server_error`

The server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from determining identity.

Not helpful? See server_error in Authorization errors.

`access_denied`

The identity is known, but access is denied because of business reasons. For example, identity can be banned or have the wrong account version, etc.

Not helpful? See access_denied in Authorization errors.

`identity_lost`

The identity was removed due logout, password reset, remote logout, etc.

`credentials_login_disabled`

Identity has disabled credentials login strategy. Identity should be verified with other strategies like Google Oauth or SAML.

Contact us

If this FAQ doesn't answer your question, reach us at developers@text.com.