Adobe Install & Auth

Overview

Set up Adobe Developer Console OAuth Server-to-Server credentials and install the appropriate SDK for your use case. As of January 2025, JWT (Service Account) credentials are deprecated -- all new integrations must use OAuth Server-to-Server.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+
• Adobe Developer Console account (https://developer.adobe.com/console)
• An Adobe organization with API access entitlements
• Admin or Developer role in Adobe Admin Console

Instructions

Step 1: Create Project in Adobe Developer Console

1. Go to https://developer.adobe.com/console
2. Click Create new project > Add API
3. Select the API you need (e.g., Firefly Services, PDF Services, Creative Cloud Libraries)
4. Choose OAuth Server-to-Server credential type
5. Select the product profiles to scope access
6. Save your client_id, client_secret, and scopes

Step 2: Install the SDK for Your Use Case

# Firefly Services (Photoshop API, Lightroom API, Firefly API)
npm install @adobe/firefly-apis @adobe/photoshop-apis @adobe/lightroom-apis

# PDF Services (create, extract, convert, generate documents)
npm install @adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk

# Adobe I/O Events (webhooks, event-driven)
npm install @adobe/aio-lib-events

# Adobe I/O SDK (App Builder, Runtime actions)
npm install @adobe/aio-sdk

# Adobe I/O CLI (global install for aio commands)
npm install -g @adobe/aio-cli

# Python — PDF Services
pip install pdfservices-sdk

Step 3: Configure OAuth Server-to-Server Credentials

# .env (NEVER commit — add to .gitignore)
ADOBE_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id_from_console
ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret_from_console
ADOBE_SCOPES=openid,AdobeID,read_organizations,firefly_api,ff_apis
ADOBE_IMS_ORG_ID=your_org_id@AdobeOrg

Step 4: Generate Access Token

// src/adobe/auth.ts
import 'dotenv/config';

interface AdobeTokenResponse {
  access_token: string;
  token_type: string;
  expires_in: number; // seconds, typically 86400 (24h)
}

let cachedToken: { token: string; expiresAt: number } | null = null;

export async function getAdobeAccessToken(): Promise<string> {
  // Return cached token if still valid (with 5min buffer)
  if (cachedToken && cachedToken.expiresAt > Date.now() + 300_000) {
    return cachedToken.token;
  }

  const response = await fetch('https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/ims/token/v3', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' },
    body: new URLSearchParams({
      client_id: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_ID!,
      client_secret: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET!,
      grant_type: 'client_credentials',
      scope: process.env.ADOBE_SCOPES!,
    }),
  });

  if (!response.ok) {
    const error = await response.text();
    throw new Error(`Adobe auth failed (${response.status}): ${error}`);
  }

  const data: AdobeTokenResponse = await response.json();
  cachedToken = {
    token: data.access_token,
    expiresAt: Date.now() + data.expires_in * 1000,
  };

  return cachedToken.token;
}

Step 5: Verify Connection

# Quick verification with curl
curl -X POST 'https://ims-na1.adobelogin.com/ims/token/v3' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  -d "client_id=${ADOBE_CLIENT_ID}&client_secret=${ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET}&grant_type=client_credentials&scope=${ADOBE_SCOPES}"

Output

• OAuth Server-to-Server credential configured in Adobe Developer Console
• SDK packages installed in node_modules or Python site-packages
• .env file with credentials (git-ignored)
• Working getAdobeAccessToken() function with token caching

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
invalid_client	Wrong client_id or client_secret	Verify credentials in Developer Console
invalid_scope	Scopes not entitled to your org	Check product profile assignments in Admin Console
401 Unauthorized	Expired or revoked credentials	Regenerate client_secret in Developer Console
ENOTFOUND ims-na1.adobelogin.com	Network/DNS issue	Check firewall allows outbound HTTPS to *.adobelogin.com
JWT credentials deprecated	Using old Service Account (JWT)	Migrate to OAuth Server-to-Server (JWT EOL was June 2025)

Examples

PDF Services SDK Initialization

import { ServicePrincipalCredentials, PDFServices } from '@adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk';

const credentials = new ServicePrincipalCredentials({
  clientId: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_ID!,
  clientSecret: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET!,
});

const pdfServices = new PDFServices({ credentials });

Firefly Services SDK Initialization

import { FireflyClient } from '@adobe/firefly-apis';

const firefly = new FireflyClient({
  clientId: process.env.ADOBE_CLIENT_ID!,
  accessToken: await getAdobeAccessToken(),
});

Python PDF Services Setup

from adobe.pdfservices.operation.auth.service_principal_credentials import ServicePrincipalCredentials
from adobe.pdfservices.operation.pdf_services import PDFServices

credentials = ServicePrincipalCredentials(
    client_id=os.environ["ADOBE_CLIENT_ID"],
    client_secret=os.environ["ADOBE_CLIENT_SECRET"]
)
pdf_services = PDFServices(credentials=credentials)

Resources

• Adobe Developer Console
• OAuth Server-to-Server Implementation Guide
• JWT to OAuth Migration Guide
• Adobe Status Page

Next Steps

After successful auth, proceed to adobe-hello-world for your first API call.