Generate and rotate Meta Marketing API System User access tokens for server-to-server auth
domain: developers.facebook.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
In Business Manager, create a System User (Admin or Employee) under Business Settings.
Install your app on the system user: POST /{system-user-id}/applications with business_app (your app ID) and an admin access_token.
Generate the token: POST /{system-user-id}/access_tokens with business_app, a comma-separated scope (e.g. ads_management, ads_read, business_management), appsecret_proof, and access_token.
Set set_token_expires_in_60_days=true unless your business is on the legacy non-expiring path, since expiring tokens are now enforced by default for many businesses.
To rotate, refresh via GET /oauth/access_token with grant_type=fb_exchange_token, deploy the new token, then revoke the old one via GET /oauth/revoke — in that order.
Known gotchas
The legacy endpoint /{system-user-id}/ads_access_token no longer works; older tutorials referencing it will fail, use /access_tokens instead.
appsecret_proof must be an HMAC-SHA256 of the token making the call, not the token being generated — a common source of silent auth failures.
Revoking the old token before the new one is deployed causes a production outage; always refresh, deploy, then revoke.
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