Every request to the Vimeo API requires an authentication token. The authentication token tells us who is making the request and what actions that user can perform.
A personal access token is a unique token generated on the Developer Site and can be used to authenticate your API requests. This token can be Authenticated, meaning it is associated with your Vimeo account, or Unauthenticated, meaning it is only authorized to your API app and it can only be used to read metadata that is public on vimeo.com.
If you need other users to grant your app access to their Vimeo accounts, an access token must be generated using one of our other available authentication workflows. Complete documentation for authentication is found on the Developer Site.
To generate a personal access token follow these steps:
- Go to your Apps page.
- Select the app you want to authenticate with.
- Click Generate Access Token in the left-hand navigation column.
- Select Authenticated (you) if you need to interact with private data on your account; select Unauthenticated if you only need to read metadata public on vimeo.com.
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If you select Authenticated, then under the Scopes heading, check the capabilities you would like to grant the token. See our authentication docs for further details.
- To upload, the token must have the scopes public, private, edit, and upload.
- To return direct file link metadata, the token must have the scopes public, private, and video_files.
- Click the Generate button. The page will reload and the token will appear unobscured in the Personal Access Tokens section.
- Copy the token string and keep it in a safe place.
This token can be used in your scripts or apps to interact with the Vimeo API. Be sure to keep your token stored safely, as anyone who has access to the token can use it to make requests on behalf of your app or account.