# Generating Access Tokens

This document explains how to generate a valid OAuth token using a set of existing Fides credentials.

## Prerequisites

In order to complete this, you will need one of the following:

- A client ID and client secret for Fides Cloud provided by your Ethyca Support team. [Contact them now](mailto:support@ethyca.com) to get credentials, or;
- A valid client ID and client secret for a self-hosted instance of Fides.

## Example: Creating an OAuth Access Token

To create an OAuth access token, make a **POST** request to the `/api/v1/oauth/token` endpoint with a valid client ID and client secret in the following format:

```
POST /api/v1/oauth/token

curl '{{FIDES_URL}}/api/v1/oauth/token' \
-d 'client_id={{FIDES_ID}}' \
-d 'client_secret={{FIDES_SECRET}}' \
-d 'grant_type=client_credentials'
```

In the above example, `{{FIDES_URL}}` is the URL to your Fides server and `{{FIDES_ID}}` and `{{FIDES_SECRET}}` are your Fides client ID and client secret.

The response to this request will return an access token in the `access_token` property as shown below:

### OAuth Access Token Response

```
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "access_token":"eyJhbGciOiJka....wWHX6t-wCQULvTsc4rRtXA"
}
```

From here you can [authenticate to the API with this access token](/content/docs/platform/authentication/oauth/calling-api/index.html) and the appropriate scopes.