I’m working on a web application that needs to integrate with Spotify’s API. I want users to be able to play music, control playback functions like pause and skip, and save playlists to their accounts.
My app specifically needs to stream songs from certain artists and let users add those playlists to their own Spotify library. I know there are different ways to authenticate with Spotify like Authorization Code, Client Credentials, and Implicit Grant flows.
Since I need access to user accounts for saving playlists and playback control, I assume I need proper authentication tokens. What’s the best authentication approach for this type of music streaming application?
Authorization Code Flow with PKCE is your best bet here. I built something similar last year and made this mistake - Client Credentials only gets you public data, not the user stuff like playlists or playback control you need. Two things that’ll save you headaches: First, nail the token refresh logic. Spotify tokens die after an hour, so you need smooth refresh handling or your users will get kicked out constantly. Second, grab the right scopes upfront - you’ll want “playlist-modify-public”, “playlist-modify-private”, and “user-modify-playback-state” at minimum. Yeah, the auth setup is a pain initially, but trust me - do it right the first time instead of refactoring later.
totally! the authorization code flow is what u need. it lets you manage user stuff like playlists and playback control. just keep an eye on your tokens for when they expire. the client credentials flow isn’t suited for apps focused on user accounts.