Step Two: Set Up Authentication

To successfully send requests, REST API requires an access token obtained by authentication. Although you can create and authenticate against your own connected app, these Quick Start examples use Salesforce CLI for convenience. Salesforce CLI is a connected app that you can authenticate, and it requires no work to configure.

Complete these steps in your Developer Edition org or development sandbox.

Get an Access Token with Salesforce CLI

Use the access token (also known as a “bearer token”) that you get from Salesforce CLI to authenticate cURL requests.

Install or update Salesforce CLI.
1. If you already have Salesforce CLI installed, update it using the instructions in Update Salesforce CLI.
2. If you need to Install Salesforce CLI, install the latest version for your operating system.
3. Verify Your Installation.
Log in to your Developer org with Salesforce CLI.
1sf org login web
A browser opens to https://login.salesforce.com.

To log in to a sandbox, append the --instance-url flag and specify your sandbox URL:
1sf org login web --instance-url https://MyDomainName--SandboxName.sandbox.my.salesforce.com
In the browser, log in to your Developer org or sandbox with your user’s credentials.
In the browser, click Allow to allow access.

At the command line, you see a similar confirmation message.
1Successfully authorized juliet.capulet@empathetic-wolf-g5qddtr.com with org ID 00D5fORGIDEXAMPLE

At the command line, get the access token by viewing authentication information about your org.

1sf org display --target-org <username>

For example:

1sf org display --target-org juliet.capulet@empathetic-wolf-g5qddtr.com

Example command output:

1=== Org Description
2
3 KEY             VALUE
4 ─────────────── ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
5 Access Token    00DE0X0A0M0PeLE!AQcAQH0dMHEXAMPLEzmpkb58urFRkgeBGsxL_QJWwYMfAbUeeG7c1EXAMPLEDUkWe6H34r1AAwOR8B8fLEz6nEXAMPLE
6 Api Version     59.0
7 Client Id       PlatformCLI
8 Created By      jules@sf.com
9 Created Date    2023-11-16T20:35:21.000+0000
10 Dev Hub Id      jules@sf.com
11 Edition         Developer
12 Expiration Date 2023-11-23
13 Id              00D5fORGIDEXAMPLE
14 Instance Url    https://MyDomainName.my.salesforce.com
15 Org Name        Dreamhouse
16 Signup Username juliet.capulet@empathetic-wolf-g5qddtr.com
17 Status          Active
18 Username        juliet.capulet@empathetic-wolf-g5qddtr.com

In the command output, make note of the long Access Token string and the Instance Url string. You need both to make cURL requests.

To get a new token after your access token expires, repeat this step of viewing your authentication information.

Note

Optional Salesforce CLI Shortcuts

After you’ve authenticated successfully, try out these optional shortcuts in your cURL workflow to streamline future authentication with the Salesforce CLI.

List My Orgs

1sf org list

Lists all the orgs that you’ve created or authenticated to.

Open My Org

1sf org open --target-org <username>

Opens the specified org (identified by username or alias) in your browser. Because you’ve successfully authenticated with this org previously using the org login web Salesforce CLI command, it’s not required to provide your credentials again.

Display the Access Token for My Org

1sf org display --target-org <username>

Output includes your access token, client ID, connected status, org ID, instance URL, username, and alias, if applicable.

Set an Alias for My Username

For convenience, create an alias for your username so that you don’t have to enter the entire Salesforce string. For example, instead of

1juliet.capulet@empathetic-wolf-g5qddtr.com

Create an alias like

1dev

To set the alias in this example, run

1sf alias set dev juliet.capulet@empathetic-wolf-g5qddtr.com

Use These Commands in a Script

Use the CLI’s JSON output by invoking the --json flag. Requesting JSON output provides a consistent output format, which is ideal for running scripts. Without the --json flag, the CLI can change the output format.

See Also