How to get access token? (Reddit API)

Question

I wonder if it is possible to get a permanent access token for personal use on Reddit? It will only be me using the App.

For users, the access token expires after 1 hour.

My using the below information that I have about my client-id and secret, I put up a start attempt of trying to get an access token. (MessageBox show "Error 401")

If a user will get a token, one have to click "Allow" in the browser. Very well described here. https://github.com/reddit/reddit/wiki/OAuth2 This it NOT what I am after. I am after for, personal use, an access token only through code. Is this possible?

            String requestUrl = "https://ssl.reddit.com/api/v1/access_token";

        RestSharp.RestClient rc = new RestSharp.RestClient();
        RestSharp.RestRequest request = new RestSharp.RestRequest(requestUrl, RestSharp.Method.POST);
        request.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
        //request.AddHeader("Authorization", ""); //???
        request.AddHeader("x-li-format", "json");

        request.AddParameter("client_id", "abcdefg");
        request.AddParameter("client_secret", "abc123-456");
        request.AddParameter("grant_type", "abc123-456");
        request.AddParameter("scope", "identity");
        request.AddParameter("state", "adhasegw"); //whatever value
        request.AddParameter("duration", "permanent");
        request.AddParameter("redirect_uri", "http://mywebsite.co");

        request.RequestFormat = RestSharp.DataFormat.Json;

        RestSharp.RestResponse restResponse = (RestSharp.RestResponse)rc.Execute(request);
        RestSharp.ResponseStatus responseStatus = restResponse.ResponseStatus;



        MessageBox.Show(restResponse.Content.ToString() + "," + responseStatus.ToString());

Answer 1

As of right now, you cannot retrieve a permanent access token. You have 2 options that come close.

The first is to request a "refresh" token when using the standard OAuth flow. That's what you're doing by sending "duration" as "permanent" in your code. The refresh token can be used to automatically retrieve new 1 hour access tokens without user intervention; the only manual steps are on the initial retrieval of the refresh token.

The second alternative, which applies only when writing a script for personal use, is to use the password grant type. The steps are described in more detail on reddit's "OAuth Quick Start" wiki page, but I'll summarize here:

1. Create an OAuth client (under https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps) with type = "script"
2. Make a request to https://www.reddit.com/api/v1/access_token with POST parameters grant_type=password&username=<USERNAME>&password=<PASSWORD>. Send your client ID and secret as HTTP basic authentication. <USERNAME> must be registered as a developer of the OAuth 2 client ID you send.

Answer 2

A client_id and client_secret can be generated for a reddit account by going to https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps and creating an app:

The part I have hidden is my client_id.

Then you can use a client like praw to access reddit e.g. with Python:

import praw
r = praw.Reddit(client_id='insert id here',
                client_secret='insert secret here',
                user_agent='insert user agent')
page = r.subreddit('aww')
top_posts = page.hot(limit=None)
for post in top_posts:
    print(post.title, post.ups)

You could use your current browser's user agent, which can be easily found by google searching "what is my user agent" (among other ways).