Search Console API returns Empty array for site list even though I have several sites in my search console

Question

Search Console API returns Empty array for site list even though I have several sites in my search console.

I have several sites in my search console. When I use the api Explorer, they are returned in the array. Once I use the PHP or Python client library, get an empty result with my Service Account Credentials. This seems to be a permissions issue but the service account I am using has owner role permissions assigned to it, so that doesn't make sense. Any help would be appreciated!

This is my code:

$client = new Google_Client();

$credentials_file = 'path/to/file.json';

$client->setAuthConfig($credentials_file);

$client->setScopes(['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/webmasters']);
$service = new Google_Service_Webmasters($client);

var_dump($service->sites->listSites()->getSiteEntry());

My result: array(0) {} even though it have several websites in the search console.

Answer 1

Search console sites and site data is considered user data and cannot be accessed by service accounts. You have to make an Oauth 2 interface and save the token to a file and use that token in your app. Make sure the app refreshes the token when it expires:

if ($client->isAccessTokenExpired()) {
        $client->refreshToken($this->token['refresh_token']);
        $token = $client->getAccessToken(); // save this to a file
    }