9Flats Authentication

generated: '2026-09-05'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/9flats/nineflats-api/master/lib/nineflats-api/client.rb,
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/9flats/nineflats-api/master/lib/nineflats-api/requests.rb,
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/9flats/nineflats-api/master/nineflats-api.gemspec
description: >-
  The 9flats API v1 authentication model, read from 9flats' OWN published client
  library (github.com/9flats/nineflats-api) rather than from documentation — the
  documentation site the gem links to, http://9flats.github.com/api_docs/, now
  returns 404, so the provider's source code is the only first-party statement of
  the auth model still reachable. No auth page, no OpenAPI securitySchemes and no
  OAuth discovery document were retrievable: every path on www.9flats.com,
  9flats.com and api.9flats.com is behind a Cloudflare managed challenge (403).
schemes:
  - id: oauth1
    type: oauth1
    label: OAuth 1.0a (three-legged)
    in: header
    evidence: >-
      client.rb constructs ::OAuth::Consumer.new(api_key, api_secret, site:
      "http://www.9flats.com", scheme: :header, http_method: :post) and exposes
      request_token(callback_url) -> get_request_token(oauth_callback: ...) and
      exchange_access_token(request_token, verifier) ->
      get_access_token(oauth_verifier: ...). The gemspec declares a runtime
      dependency on the `oauth` gem.
    credentials:
      - name: api_key
        role: OAuth consumer key
      - name: api_secret
        role: OAuth consumer secret
    flow:
      - Obtain a request token with an oauth_callback.
      - Send the user to 9flats to authorize.
      - Exchange the request token plus oauth_verifier for an access token.
    signature_transport: Authorization header (scheme :header)
    required_for:
      - GET /api/v1/users/{user_id}/bookings
    optional_for:
      - GET /api/v1/places/{slug}
      - GET /api/v1/users/{user_id}
    note: >-
      OAuth 1.0a, not OAuth 2.0 — there is no token endpoint, no scopes, no
      refresh token and no OpenID Connect surface, so scopes/ is deliberately not
      emitted for this provider.
  - id: client_id
    type: apiKey
    in: query
    name: client_id
    label: Consumer key echoed as a client_id query parameter
    evidence: >-
      Every request in requests.rb appends
      QueryStringNormalizer.normalize({client_id: consumer.key}) to the path, e.g.
      GET /api/v1/places/{slug}?client_id=...
    note: >-
      This is the same value as the OAuth consumer key, carried a second time in
      the query string. Read-only endpoints are called with the unauthenticated
      consumer (consumer.request) and this parameter; only user bookings require
      an access token.
unauthenticated_access:
  available: true
  note: >-
    Search, place detail, photos, prices, reviews, calendar, user profile and
    user favourites are fetched through consumer.request without an access token
    — signed with the consumer credentials only. A client_id is still required,
    so there is no anonymous surface.
authorization_gate:
  evidence: >-
    requests.rb raises Nineflats::NotAuthenticatedException("User is not
    authenticated yet!") before calling /api/v1/users/{id}/bookings when
    Client.client.authorized? is false.
verification:
  live_probe_attempted: true
  live_probe_result: >-
    Could not verify against the running service. GET https://www.9flats.com/api/v1/places
    returned 403 with cf-mitigated: challenge on 2026-09-05, as did every other
    path on every 9flats host.
  caveat: >-
    This profile describes API v1 as of the last release of the provider's SDK
    (0.0.9, 2011-11-07). A v3 surface existed at https://www.9flats.com/api/v3/places/
    per the provider's own (now removed) api_docs site; its auth model is unknown
    and is NOT asserted here.
contact: api@9flats.com