HTTP Google Sheets API v4 how to access without OAuth 2.0?

Question

my idea is to create a google sheet, make it public and then access it from my work computer linux/bash to read/write values on a daily basis.

i have a public google doc sheet that anyone can find/edit. this is the sheet ID: 1F6jh6756xNDlDYIvZm_3TrXb59EFEFHGEC7jdWz-Nx0

doing it by the book https://developers.google.com/sheets/api/samples/reading

curl 'https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/1F6jh6756xNDlDYIvZm_3TrXb59EFEFHGEC7jdWz-Nx0/values/Sheet1!A1:A3'

returns:

{
  "error": {
  "code": 403,
  "message": "The request is missing a valid API key.",
  "status": "PERMISSION_DENIED"
  }
}

i've read a lot and especialy here Google Sheet API v4 i've found a complicated solution. that is if you want to access your public sheet in a short 1 hour period.

you browse to https://developers.google.com/oauthplayground/ get authorization for the v4 api, then get "Authorization code", then get "Refresh token", and finally "Access token".

using this "Access token" you can access the public sheet like this
curl 'https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/1F6jh6756xNDlDYIvZm_3TrXb59EFEFHGEC7jdWz-Nx0/values/Sheet1!A1:A3' -H "Authorization: Bearer ya29.GlvaBLjrTdsSuSllr3u2nAiC-BOsjvIOE1x5afU3xiafB-FTOdLWDtfabuIMGF1rId5BsZxiTXxrx7VDEtxww4Q1uvW9zRndkfm3I2LZnT1HK2nTWzX_6oXu-NAG"

returns:

{
  "range": "Sheet1!A1:A3",
  "majorDimension": "ROWS",
  "values": [
        [
      "a1"
    ],
    [
      "a2"
    ],
    [
      "a3"
    ]
  ]
}

perfect. in theory the "Access token" expires after an hour, the "Refresh token" never expires. so you would save the tokens, try to read the sheet with the "Access token", if it fails use the "Refresh token" to gain a new "Access token" and carry on.

but, i've had a dozen of "Refresh token"s that were redeemed/expired, "Authorization code"s expired, all in all nothing works after a few hours. why?

how can i access my google sheet form bash with curl without this kind of authorization? especially since my sheet is public and can be edited by anyone with a browser.

is there another way to do this with some other permanent authorization? why not use email and pass?

"API key" is mentioned but never explained. can some one please explain this method step by step?

Solution 1

All Google APIs require that you create a project on Google developer console and identify yourself and your application, even to access public data. Since you have set the sheet to public you can just go to google developer console and create a public api key remember to active the google sheets api. Then just add key=[YourKey] as a parameter on your request.

Update Dev console:

Create project and get key:

Google developer console -> create a project -> credentials drop down -> API Key

Enable it:

Google developer console -> library find sheets enable it.

Update:

{ "error": { "code": 403, "message": "The request is missing a valid API key.", "status": "PERMISSION_DENIED" } }

Means that you have not identified yourself to Google. In 2015 Google Start to require that we identify ourselves you cant just use a Google API without telling google who you are. You do that by creating a project on [Google developer console1. Create an API key and use that API key in all of your requests. This only works with Public data.

https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/1F6jh6756xNDlDYIvZm_3TrXb59EFEFHGEC7jdWz-Nx0/values/Sheet1!A1:A3?key=YOurKEY

Note: With private user data you would need to use OAuth and use either access_token=your token or set the header

Authorization: Bearer ya29.GlvaBLjrTdsSuSllr3u2nAiC-BOsjvIOE1x5afU3xiafB-FTOdLWDtfabuIMGF1rId5BsZxiTXxrx7VDEtxww4Q1uvW9zRndkfm3I2LZnT1HK2nTWzX_6oXu-NAG.

An access token is not the same as a API Key.

Solution 2

If you don't want to mess with OAuth2, maybe the simpler solution is to use third-party soft. https://sheetdb.io allows you to work with Google spreadsheets and does OAuth2 for you. Additionally, the API is simpler than Google, check out the docs here: https://docs.sheetdb.io

Solution 3

Another approach is to share the sheet with a Google Cloud service account, and then use the service account to authorize with the API client. If the document is public you do not need to share it.

Instructions on creating a service account and reading a Google doc, which should also apply to sheets https://www.futurice.com/blog/read-goog-doc-using-service-account