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Harvest API Authentication

How to authenticate Harvest API requests: one Bearer API key plus a connectionId. MindCloud runs the OAuth flow and refreshes Harvest tokens for you.

Every Harvest API request through MindCloud needs two things: a MindCloud API Key and a connectionId for your Harvest account. This page covers both, plus exactly how to send them, so you do not need to visit any other page to get authenticated.

Steps to authenticate

  1. Create a MindCloud account at app.mindcloud.co if you do not already have one.
  2. Generate a MindCloud API Key in API Keys. This is the Bearer token you send on every request. Keep it on your server.
  3. Create a Harvest connection in Connections. Harvest uses OAuth. When you create the connection, you are redirected to sign in to Harvest and approve access — MindCloud stores the resulting tokens and refreshes them automatically, so your integration never has to.
  4. Copy the connection’s connectionId — you will send it on every request alongside your MindCloud API Key.

How requests are authenticated

Authentication has two layers. Your MindCloud API Key authenticates the request to MindCloud, sent as a Bearer token in the Authorization header. The connectionId selects the connected Harvest account that should run the action. MindCloud stores and refreshes the Harvest credentials behind that connection, so you never send provider tokens with your requests.

Pass connectionId in the query string for GET and DELETE actions, and in the JSON body for POST, PUT, and PATCH actions.

For example, calling Retrieve Current User with an Harvest connection looks like this:

curl --request POST \
  --url "https://connect.mindcloud.co/v2/universal/apps/harvest/actions/retrieve-current-user/run" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $MINDCLOUD_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
  "connectionId": "$CONNECTION_ID",
  "arguments": {}
}'

The Authorization: Bearer <your MindCloud API Key> header authenticates you to MindCloud; the connectionId tells MindCloud which Harvest account to run the action against. Missing or invalid Authorization returns 401, and a missing or mismatched connectionId returns 400.

Set up Harvest OAuth2

You need access to a Harvest account and permission to create or manage a Harvest developer application.

  1. Create or open your Harvest developer application

    Open Harvest's API authentication documentation and create an OAuth2 application for this connection.

  2. Add the MindCloud redirect URI

    Use this exact Redirect URI in Harvest: https://api.mindcloud.co/v1/oauth/harvest/callback

  3. Copy your client credentials into MindCloud

    Copy the Client ID and Client Secret from Harvest into this connection's OAuth2 fields.

  4. Enter the Harvest Account ID for this connection

    Provide the Harvest Account ID for the account this connection should use. Harvest requires this value on API requests in addition to OAuth2.

Keep your key safe

Keep your MindCloud API Key on your server; do not ship it in browser code, mobile apps, public repositories, or logs. Anyone with the key can call the Universal API as your MindCloud account, across every connection you have created.