Refresh an expired QuickBooks Online OAuth 2.0 access token using the refresh token
domain: developer.intuit.com · 8 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
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In-depth guide
QuickBooks OAuth refresh token rotation — the full failure-mode walkthrough related to developer.intuit.com, checked against official docs, with linked verified routes.
Documented steps
Confirm you have a still-valid refresh_token from the original code exchange; access tokens live only 3600 s (1 hour), refresh tokens ~100 days.
POST to https://oauth.platform.intuit.com/oauth2/v1/tokens/bearer with Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded and 'Accept: application/json'.
Authenticate with HTTP Basic: base64(client_id + ':' + client_secret).
Body: grant_type=refresh_token and refresh_token=<your stored refresh token>.
Parse the response; the new value of access_token is the refreshed token and expires_in resets to 3600.
The response also returns a refresh_token — ALWAYS store this latest value (Intuit rotates it).
Retry the failed API call with the new access_token.
API docs: https://developer.intuit.com/app/developer/qbo/docs/develop/authentication-and-authorization/oauth-2.0
Known gotchas
Always persist the newest refresh_token returned; Intuit issues a new one and can force the previous one to expire, so reusing an old value returns invalid_grant.
After a refresh, update BOTH the stored access token and stored refresh token atomically.
If the refresh token itself has expired (~100 days), there is no way to refresh — the user must re-authorize.
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