Customer Account API making requests via API

Retired Boards Appdev Authentication

Topic summary

A developer is encountering a “Not a valid access token” error when attempting to make requests to Shopify’s Customer Account API using GraphQL.

Key Issues Identified:

  • The official documentation contains errors in the example code, particularly in the request structure
  • The developer has an authenticated user’s access token but cannot successfully authenticate API requests
  • Headers are being set with Authorization containing the access token in format 'atka_****_****_****'

Solution Provided:

Another user suggests replacing the Authorization header with X-Shopify-Access-Token instead. This appears to be the correct header format for Customer Account API requests, differing from what’s shown in the documentation example.

The discussion highlights a discrepancy between the official documentation and the actual API requirements for authentication headers.

Summarized with AI on November 6. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

I am using Customer Account API to use customer account in my application.

Considering the docs, it says I should use Access Token to make requests to gql, but I am always have this error:

“Not a valid access token”.

They also have the mistake in the example:

const response = await fetch(
'https://shopify.com/<shop-id>/account/customer/api/2024-07/graphql',
  {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      Authorization: {access_token},
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      operationName: 'SomeQuery',
      'query { customer { emailAddress { emailAddress }}}',
      variables: {},
    }),
  },

This code will never work, what is happening in the request body..??

This is how I try to make requests:

	query(query) {
		if (!query) return;
		const headers = {
			'Content-Type': 'application/json',
			Authorization: `${this.cookies.get('auth-token')}`,
		};

		console.debug(headers);

		return this.fetch(this.baseUrl, {
			method: 'POST',
			headers,
			body: JSON.stringify({ query }),
		});
	}

And my headers contain:

{
  'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  Authorization: 'atkn_****_****_****'
}

API response in this case:

{ errors: [ { message: 'Not a valid access token' } ] }

I also have access token of authenticated user, and other stuff that docs described before “Endpoint and queries” section.

So how to make authenticated request to get my authenticated customer data?

2

Hi @Kkkkk3

Use ‘X-Shopify Access Token’ instead of ‘Authorization’

const response = await fetch(
'https://shopify.com/