Insufficient permission error when trying to fetch user Youtube Channels

Question

I have authenticated against a Youtube Account and have successfully gotten the access token. Now I wish to fetch the user's Youtube Channels using the code below:

        async fetchYoutubeChannels() {
        let accessToken = ....;
        const authCredentials = accessToken;
        const oauth2Client = initOAuth2Client(); //Oauth2 Client initialized at the top with secret, redirect url and and client id
        oauth2Client.setCredentials(authCredentials);
        oauth2Client.on('tokens', async (tokens) => {
            if (tokens.refresh_token) {
           //Save new token
            }
        });
        let service = google.youtube('v3');
        service.channels.list({
            auth: oauth2Client,
            part: 'snippet,contentDetails,statistics',
        }, function (err, response) {
            if (err) {
                console.log('The Youtube API returned an error: ' + err);
                return;
            }
            let channels = response.data;
            console.log(`Retrieved Channels = ${JSON.stringify(channels, null, 2)}`);
        });
    }

But All I keep getting is this error message:

The Youtube API returned an error: Error: Insufficient Permission

What am I missing?

Any idea would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

Error: Insufficient Permission

Means that the user has authorized your application but they have not granted you the permissions you need to access this method.

I am going to assume you are following quickstart nodejs and have just neglected to follow some of the code.

Notice how the get channel method passes the auth parameter which was created as part of the authorization. You appear to be trying to create it manually by setting an access token. You should let the code create the access token as it will be created with the proper scope.

var fs = require('fs');
var readline = require('readline');
var {google} = require('googleapis');
var OAuth2 = google.auth.OAuth2;

// If modifying these scopes, delete your previously saved credentials
// at ~/.credentials/youtube-nodejs-quickstart.json
var SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.readonly'];
var TOKEN_DIR = (process.env.HOME || process.env.HOMEPATH ||
    process.env.USERPROFILE) + '/.credentials/';
var TOKEN_PATH = TOKEN_DIR + 'youtube-nodejs-quickstart.json';

// Load client secrets from a local file.
fs.readFile('client_secret.json', function processClientSecrets(err, content) {
  if (err) {
    console.log('Error loading client secret file: ' + err);
    return;
  }
  // Authorize a client with the loaded credentials, then call the YouTube API.
  authorize(JSON.parse(content), getChannel);
});

/**
 * Create an OAuth2 client with the given credentials, and then execute the
 * given callback function.
 *
 * @param {Object} credentials The authorization client credentials.
 * @param {function} callback The callback to call with the authorized client.
 */
function authorize(credentials, callback) {
  var clientSecret = credentials.installed.client_secret;
  var clientId = credentials.installed.client_id;
  var redirectUrl = credentials.installed.redirect_uris[0];
  var oauth2Client = new OAuth2(clientId, clientSecret, redirectUrl);

  // Check if we have previously stored a token.
  fs.readFile(TOKEN_PATH, function(err, token) {
    if (err) {
      getNewToken(oauth2Client, callback);
    } else {
      oauth2Client.credentials = JSON.parse(token);
      callback(oauth2Client);
    }
  });
}

/**
 * Get and store new token after prompting for user authorization, and then
 * execute the given callback with the authorized OAuth2 client.
 *
 * @param {google.auth.OAuth2} oauth2Client The OAuth2 client to get token for.
 * @param {getEventsCallback} callback The callback to call with the authorized
 *     client.
 */
function getNewToken(oauth2Client, callback) {
  var authUrl = oauth2Client.generateAuthUrl({
    access_type: 'offline',
    scope: SCOPES
  });
  console.log('Authorize this app by visiting this url: ', authUrl);
  var rl = readline.createInterface({
    input: process.stdin,
    output: process.stdout
  });
  rl.question('Enter the code from that page here: ', function(code) {
    rl.close();
    oauth2Client.getToken(code, function(err, token) {
      if (err) {
        console.log('Error while trying to retrieve access token', err);
        return;
      }
      oauth2Client.credentials = token;
      storeToken(token);
      callback(oauth2Client);
    });
  });
}

/**
 * Store token to disk be used in later program executions.
 *
 * @param {Object} token The token to store to disk.
 */
function storeToken(token) {
  try {
    fs.mkdirSync(TOKEN_DIR);
  } catch (err) {
    if (err.code != 'EEXIST') {
      throw err;
    }
  }
  fs.writeFile(TOKEN_PATH, JSON.stringify(token), (err) => {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log('Token stored to ' + TOKEN_PATH);
  });
}

/**
 * Lists the names and IDs of up to 10 files.
 *
 * @param {google.auth.OAuth2} auth An authorized OAuth2 client.
 */
function getChannel(auth) {
  var service = google.youtube('v3');
  service.channels.list({
    auth: auth,
    part: 'snippet,contentDetails,statistics',
    forUsername: 'GoogleDevelopers'
  }, function(err, response) {
    if (err) {
      console.log('The API returned an error: ' + err);
      return;
    }
    var channels = response.data.items;
    if (channels.length == 0) {
      console.log('No channel found.');
    } else {
      console.log('This channel\'s ID is %s. Its title is \'%s\', and ' +
                  'it has %s views.',
                  channels[0].id,
                  channels[0].snippet.title,
                  channels[0].statistics.viewCount);
    }
  });
}

From comments

How do I get the username of a youtube account. is it the user display name retrieved during the oauth2 process?

The youtube api is channel based not user based. You are given access to a users channel. Not techincally the user themselves activites might give you some info as to what channel the user authorized you to access but i haven't actually tried.

Error: No filter selected. Expected one of: mySubscribers, id, categoryId, mine, managedByMe, forUsername

Channels: list requires that you send a filter. Check the section Filters (specify exactly one of the following parameters)