OAuth Scopes
Defining what you have permission to do with the API
OAuth Scopes
The API is divided up into access scopes. The scopes are hierarchical, i.e. if you have access to read, you automatically have access to read:accounts. It is recommended that you request as little as possible for your application.
Multiple scopes can be requested at the same time: During app creation with the scopes param, and during the authorization phase with the scope query param (space-separate the scopes).
scope vs scopes difference. This is because scope is a standard OAuth parameter name, so it is used in the OAuth methods. Mastodon’s own REST API uses the more appropriate scopes.
If you do not specify a scope in your authorization request, or a scopes in your app creation request, the resulting access token / app will default to read access.
The set of scopes saved during app creation must include all the scopes that you will request in the authorization request, otherwise authorization will fail.
Version history
- 0.9.0 - read, write, follow
- 2.4.0 - push
- 2.4.3 - granular scopes https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/pull/7929
- 2.6.0 - read:reports deprecated (unused stub) https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/pull/8736/commits/adcf23f1d00c8ff6877ca2ee2af258f326ae4e1f
- 2.6.0 - write:conversations added https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/pull/9009
- 2.9.1 - Admin scopes added https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/pull/9387
- 3.1.0 - Bookmark scopes added
List of scopes
read
Grants access to read data. Requesting read will also grant child scopes shown in the left column of the table below.
write
Grants access to write data. Requesting write will also grant child scopes shown in the right column of the table below.
follow
Grants access to manage relationships. Requesting follow will also grant the following child scopes, shown in bold in the table:
read:blocks,write:blocksread:follows,write:followsread:mutes,write:mutes
push
Grants access to Web Push API subscriptions. Added in Mastodon 2.4.0.
Admin scopes
Used for moderation API. Added in Mastodon 2.9.1. The following granular scopes are available (note that there is no singular admin scope):
admin:readadmin:read:accountsadmin:read:reports
admin:writeadmin:write:accountsadmin:write:reports
Granular scopes
| read | write |
|---|---|
| read:accounts | write:accounts |
| read:blocks | write:blocks |
| read:bookmarks | write:bookmarks |
| write:conversations | |
| read:favourites | write:favourites |
| read:filters | write:filters |
| read:follows | write:follows |
| read:lists | write:lists |
| write:media | |
| read:mutes | write:mutes |
| read:notifications | write:notifications |
| write:reports | |
| read:search | |
| read:statuses | write:statuses |
| admin:read | admin:write |
|---|---|
| admin:read:accounts | admin:write:accounts |
| admin:read:reports | admin:write:reports |
Last updated January 12, 2020 · Improve this page