How to use service account to authenticate google workspace admin api? - node.js

Question

I obtained a service account JSON file and also attached domain wide delegation permissions to that service account. Next I set the service account file path using the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS env variable. After that I tried to access google groups of the domain like this:
import { google } from 'googleapis';
const admin = await google.admin({
version: 'directory_v1',
});
const groupsResponse = await admin.groups.list({
domain: process.env.GOOGLE_DOMAIN,
});
This gives me the following error:
Request is missing required authentication credential. Expected OAuth 2 access token, login cookie or other valid authentication credential. See https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/devconsole-project.
What am I missing here?

Answer 1

You need to apply the client to the service object.
auth: client
you may want to check out using-the-keyfile-property
Try this
const google = require("googleapis").google;
const SRVC_ACCOUNT_CREDS = require('./keys.json');
const getClient = async (scopes: string[], user: string)=>{
const auth = new google.auth.GoogleAuth({
credentials: SRVC_ACCOUNT_CREDS,
scopes: scopes
});
const client = await auth.getClient();
client.subject = user;
return client;
};
const listUsers = async (query = "", limit = 500, pageToken = null, user, fields, getAll = false)=>{
const scopes = ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.user"];
const client = await getClient(scopes, user);
const service = google.admin({version: "directory_v1", auth: client});
const result = {
users: [],
nextPageToken: ""
};
if(!fields) {
fields = "users(name.fullName,primaryEmail,organizations(department,primary,title),thumbnailPhotoUrl),nextPageToken";
}
do{
const request = await service.users.list({
customer: "my_customer",
fields: fields,
orderBy: "givenName",
maxResults: limit,
pageToken: pageToken,
query: query,
viewType: "admin_view"
});
pageToken = getAll ? request.data.nextPageToken : null;
const users = request.data.users;
if(users && users.length){
result.users.push(...users);
result.nextPageToken = request.data.nextPageToken;
}
} while(pageToken);
return result;
};