How and when to use service accounts with the Content API for Shopping

The Content API for Shopping documentation now includes a guide for using OAuth 2.0 service accounts with Content API for Shopping. This guide will be of particular interest to in-house developers, whose applications do not need access to third-party information. In such cases, requiring the application to get user approval and to keep track of refresh tokens may be unnecessary overhead. Instead, service accounts provide a private key that the application can use to authenticate when using the Content API.

For developers that work with third-party information, you should still use the OAuth2 three-legged authentication flow as described in the Authorize Requests guide to request permission from users for access to their information.

If you have questions about which flow is more appropriate for your project, or any other questions or feedback concerning the Content API for Shopping, please let us know on the forum.