Generating developer tokens

Create a JSON Web Token to authorize your requests to Apple Media Feed API.

Overview

The header of each Apple Media Feed API request requires authorization in the form of a developer token. A developer token is a signed token that authenticates you as a trusted developer and member of the Apple Developer Program.

Apple Media Feed API limits the number of requests you can make using a developer token within a specific period of time. If you exceed this limit, you temporarily receive 429 Too Many Requests error responses for requests that use the token. This error resolves itself shortly after the request rate reduces.

Create your developer token

Configuring a media identifier and authorization key using your developer account allows you to obtain a key ID to use in your developer token.

Apple Media Feed API supports the JSON Web Token (JWT) specification, so you can pass statements and metadata called claims. For more information, see the JWT specification and the available libraries for generating signed JWTs.

Create a developer token as a JSON object with a header that includes the following:

alg: The algorithm you use to sign the token, which requires the value of ES256.
kid: A 10-character key ID that you obtain from your developer account.

In the claims payload of the token, include the following:

iss: The issuer registered claim key, a 10-character Team ID from your developer account.
iat: The issued at registered claim key. This value indicates the time that the system generated the token, in UNIX time.
exp: The expiration time registered claim key. This value can’t be greater than 15777000 (6 months in seconds) from the current UNIX time on the server.
origin: (Optional) The origin claim, recommended for web clients. Only use this JWT if the origin header of the request matches one of the values in the array. This addition helps prevent unauthorized use of the tokens. For example: “origin“:[“https://example.com“,“https://music.example.com“].

A decoded developer token has the following format:

{
     "alg": "ES256",
     "kid": "ABC123DEFG"
}
{
     "iss": "DEF123GHIJ",
     "iat": 1437179036,
     "exp": 1493298100
}

After you create the token, sign it with your private key using the ES256 algorithm.

Authorize requests

If you manage request authorization directly, in all requests, pass the Authorization: Bearer header set to the developer token.

curl -v -H 'Authorization: Bearer [developer token]' "https://api.ent.apple.com/v1/test"