Authentication

Each request to Celonis APIs must be authenticated with a registered Celonis Identity. There are multiple ways of authenticating as detailed below.

About authentication options

Static Keys

(*to be discontinued / sunsetting milestones will be officially announced *) While it is possible to use API keys and Application keys with Celonis, it's important to note that they are not the industry standard and are therefore not recommended. Both keys have an unlimited lifetime and cannot be “rotated”. This means that users need to delete and recreate them to achieve the equivalent of key rotation, which can be a cumbersome process.

One issue (particularly relevant for API Keys) is that they give any application that uses them complete access to almost all the Celonis APIs (public or private). There is no way to restrict their access to only certain resources.

OAuth 2.0 as the Recommended Solution

OAuth 2.0 is a well-established industry standard that makes it easier to integrate customer-managed applications with Celonis. OAuth uses scopes to manage access to resources, which means that the OAuth clients can only access APIs allowed by the scopes they are configured to use.

For example, we can have the scope studio that gives access to Studio or the scope audit.log:read that gives read-only access to audit logs. For an OAuth client to be able to access a certain resource (API), the client must have the OAuth scope and the Celonis permission to do so. This follows the security principle of least privilege so that an OAuth client gets only the required privilege to perform a certain task and not more.

Migration from a static key to OAuth 2.0

If a 3P application is using an API key or Application key to integrate with Celonis, they should migrate to OAuth 2.0 as soon as possible.

The migration process is described here:

1. Create an OAuth 2.0 client as described in the Using an OAuth 2.0 token section.
2. Give the new OAuth 2.0 client permissions on the same packages as your existing Application Key or existing user.
3. Configure the application to use OAuth 2.0 authentication method instead of the old Application Key authentication and provide the client Id, the client secret (optionally depending on the grant type) and the authentication, then refresh and redirect (optionally for authorization code grant type) URLs using the endpoints and requests described in the OAuth Endpoints section.

Using a User API key

(to be discontinued by the end of March 2026)

You can find out how to create a user API key by following our User API Keys guide.

The Celonis API uses Bearer Token Authentication for verifying consumer access. The credentials must be sent in an Authorization header in the HTTP request. Credentials sent in the URL or body of the request will be ignored.

To authenticate using Bearer Token Authentication:

1. Create the token in the Celonis Platform:
   MDg5MGVkNDktNjMwZC00ODdiLTkyNGItMjNmMzMxNjRmM2IwOkhNUVRMUis4SGh6NHhBY21Vck9GaWdkem5rYzBrb3p0N056WUM0bGlqczMM
2. Include the string in the HTTP Authorization header formatted like this:
   Authorization: Bearer MDg5MGVkNDktNjMwZC00ODdiLTkyNGItMjNmMzMxNjRmM2IwOkhNUVRMUis4SGh6NHhBY21Vck9GaWdkem5rYzBrb3p0N056WUM0bGlqczMM

Using an Application API key

(to be discontinued by the end of March 2026)

You can find out how to create an AppKey by following our Application API Keys guide.

To authenticate using AppKey Authentication:

1. Create the AppKey in the Celonis Platform:
   MzgyZDEzYjItNjI1MS00NTIwLTk1YTItY2ZjYzMzZTllOTNmOkE3a1dvYnpYQ0c3aUtUdTNRNC9UNzFLUXZmY0E2ZjVXUUROajFoN1R5UzIr
2. Include the string in the HTTP Authorization header formatted like this:
   Authorization: AppKey MzgyZDEzYjItNjI1MS00NTIwLTk1YTItY2ZjYzMzZTllOTNmOkE3a1dvYnpYQ0c3aUtUdTNRNC9UNzFLUXZmY0E2ZjVXUUROajFoN1R5UzIr

Using an OAuth 2.0 token

To generate tokes using OAuth 2.0, it is necessary to follow the configuration steps described below.

OAuth client Grant Types

Client Credentials

This grant type uses the client’s credentials to access protected data from a resource server. It’s suitable for machine-to-machine authentication.

Authorization Code

The most common grant type, the authorization server returns a single-use authorization code to the client. The client then exchanges the code for an access token. This capability is in private preview; please contact your Celonis account team to get early access.

OAuth client Authentication Methods

Client secret basic

With this method, the client sends the $client_id and $client_secret using the Authorization header, in the following format:

• Authorization: Basic $encoded_credentials .

Here the value of $encoded_credentials corresponds to the base64 encoding of OAuth client’s $client_id:$client_secret.

Client secret post

The client authenticates itself by providing the $client_id and $client_secret in the HTTP request body as a form parameter. To ask for multiples scopes, each scope should be separated by space.

Registering an OAuth client in Celonis Platform

OAuth can be used as an authentication method for the Celonis Platform, which offers a more secure and flexible way of granting permissions to clients (applications) compared to API keys.

1. In the Celonis Platform instance, go to Admin & Settings .
2. Click Applications .
3. Then in the upper-right corner, click Add New Application and select "OAuth Client".
4. Enter a meaningful name for your client.
5. Select one of the OAuth grant types supported: Client Credentials , Authorization Code
6. Select one of the OAuth authentication methods supported: Client secret basic or Client secret post .
7. Click Define scopes - Scopes do not grant any additional permissions beyond what the client has. They specify the access-level that the client needs. Select what levels within Celonis Platform the clients will have access to based on granted permissions. Every scope has a name and a description, describing what can be accessed with the scope based on the permissions granted to the client.
8. Click Create .

As scopes only allow access to the APIs, the created OAuth client should now be assigned permissions to resources behind those APIs.

After creating a client in the Celonis Platform, developers receive client credentials: client ID and client secret. The client secret must be copied as it cannot be accessed again in the future.

IMPORTANT: For production solutions, we strongly recommend using OAuth 2.0 instead of static keys.

OAuth Endpoints

The access and refresh token URL

The token endpoint is available at https://< team-url >/oauth2/token.

The redirect URL

This endpoint is specified by the consumer.

OAuth Requests

OAuth token generation request (client_credentials)

curl --request POST \
  --url https://<team>.<cluster>.celonis.cloud/oauth2/token \
  --header 'content-type: multipart/form-data' \
  --form client_id=<client id> \
  --form client_secret=<client secret> \
  --form grant_type=client_credentials \
  --form scope=<scope1 scope2 scopeN>

OAuth token generation request (authorization_code)

curl --request POST \
  --url https://<team>.<cluster>.celonis.cloud/oauth2/token \
  --header 'content-type: multipart/form-data' \
  --form client_id=<client id> \
  --form grant_type=authorization_code \
  --form response_type=code \
  --form redirect_uri=<redirect uri> \
  --form scope=<scope1 scope2 scopeN>

OAuth token renewal request

curl --request POST \
  --url https://<team>.<cluster>.celonis.cloud/oauth2/token \
  --header 'content-type: multipart/form-data' \
  --form client_id=<client id> \
  --form client_secret=<client secret> \
  --form refresh_token=<refresh token> \
  --form grant_type=refresh_token \
  --form scope=<scope1 scope2 scopeN>

OAuth token response

{
	"access_token": "eyJraWQiOiJkZXZlbG9wLWVzMzg0IiwiYWxnIjoiRVMzODQifQ.eyJhdWQiOlsiYjllMzgwZDYtMmUxZS00MmQ5LWI3YjUtZTJkZDI5MGYxZTU5IiwiYXBpbmF1dHMuZGV2ZWxvcC5jZWxvbmlzLmNsb3VkIl0sIm5iZiI6MTcxMjEzNDU4NywiYXpwIjoiYjllMzgwZDYtMmUxZS00MmQ5LWI3YjUtZTJkZDI5MGYxZTU5Iiwic2NvcGUiOlsib3BlbmlkIl0sImlzcyI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXBpbmF1dHMuZGV2ZWxvcC5jZWxvbmlzLmNsb3VkIiwiZXhwIjoxNzEyMTM1NDg3LCJpYXQiOjE3MTIxMzQ1ODcsImp0aSI6IjI2ZjlhNTU3LWQwMTEtNDcyNy05MTNhLWU3NmU3MDIzMTkyMyJ9.XIBj89ymumPaDL_InAsuWiL_6e5GeMpDGgPz3cZNWF3rNzNTc4GRAXMrtBjU9Gg6SWpyqPK0tTaTsrf88fmc0MboYXvKH0CxtpqWlDp0h_QSRMb1ZsCD226kv83xbh86",
	"scope": "scope1 scope2 scopeN",
	"token_type": "Bearer",
	"expires_in": 899
}

Regenerating the OAuth client secret

For security reasons, you may want to regenerate the client secret. For this, navigate to Admin & Setting > Applications and find the OAuth client. Click on the three dots menu on the right and choose Regenerate Secret. After getting the new secret, make sure to update it in any integration in which this client is used.

Managing OAuth Client Consent

During OAuth authorization flows, users can give consent to OAuth clients to access resources on their behalf. To view which OAuth clients have been granted consent, navigate to Edit Profile and then to the OAuth Client Management section. There, you can view which applications (OAuth clients) have been granted consent and you can revoke such a consent by clicking on Edit and then Revoke Consent for the corresponding client.

How to use OAuth token

The Celonis API uses Bearer Token Authentication for verifying consumer access. The credentials must be sent in an Authorization header in the HTTP request. Credentials sent in the URL or body of the request will be ignored.

To authenticate using Bearer Token Authentication:

1. Call the token endpoint ( https://< team-url >/oauth2/token ) to issue a new or renew an existing token.
2. Include the access token in the HTTP Authorization header formatted like this:
   Authorization: Bearer eyJraWQiOiJkZXZlbG9wLWVzMzg0IiwiYWxnIjoiRVMzODQifQ.eyJhdWQiOlsiYjllMzgwZDYtMmUxZS00MmQ5LWI3YjUtZTJkZDI5MGYxZTU5IiwiYXBpbmF1dHMuZGV2ZWxvcC5jZWxvbmlzLmNsb3VkIl0sIm5iZiI6MTcxMjEzNDU4NywiYXpwIjoiYjllMzgwZDYtMmUxZS00MmQ5LWI3YjUtZTJkZDI5MGYxZTU5Iiwic2NvcGUiOlsib3BlbmlkIl0sImlzcyI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXBpbmF1dHMuZGV2ZWxvcC5jZWxvbmlzLmNsb3VkIiwiZXhwIjoxNzEyMTM1NDg3LCJpYXQiOjE3MTIxMzQ1ODcsImp0aSI6IjI2ZjlhNTU3LWQwMTEtNDcyNy05MTNhLWU3NmU3MDIzMTkyMyJ9.XIBj89ymumPaDL InAsuWiL 6e5GeMpDGgPz3cZNWF3rNzNTc4GRAXMrtBjU9Gg6SWpyqPK0tTaTsrf88fmc0MboYXvKH0CxtpqWlDp0h QSRMb1ZsCD226kv83xbh86

Video

Authorization

Scopes

Scopes do not grant any additional permissions beyond what the client has. They specify the access-level that the client needs. Every scope has a name and a description, describing what can be accessed with the scope based on the permissions granted to the client.

Permissions

You must set the right permissions and ensure the User API Key or the Application API Key leveraged for authorization purposes has access to the Celonis resources you would like to access through the APIs.