Carserv Authentication

generated: '2026-07-20'
method: derived
source: >-
  https://github.com/CarServ/public_api_client —
  lib/carserv/public_api/client/authenticator.rb,
  lib/carserv/public_api/client/config.rb,
  lib/carserv/public_api/client/resources/base.rb
notes: >-
  Derived from the first-party Ruby client, not from an OpenAPI definition —
  CarServ never published a machine-readable spec and the developer site is gone.
  The model is a two-legged key/secret token exchange that returns a JWT, which is
  then sent as a bearer token on every JSON:API request. Not OAuth 2.0: there is no
  authorization endpoint, no scopes, no refresh token and no grant_type parameter,
  so no scopes/ artifact is produced.
summary:
  types:
  - http
  bearer_format: JWT
  api_key_in:
  - body
  oauth2_flows: []
  scopes_supported: false
schemes:
- name: bearerAuth
  type: http
  scheme: bearer
  bearerFormat: JWT
  in: header
  header: Authorization
  value_format: 'Bearer <jwt>'
  applied_to: all Public API resource requests
  sources:
  - https://github.com/CarServ/public_api_client
token_exchange:
  method: POST
  path: /public/api/v2/access_token.json
  request_content_type: application/json
  request_body_fields:
  - name: key
    description: CarServ API key issued to the integrating account
  - name: secret
    description: CarServ API secret paired with the key
  response_field: jwt
  description: >-
    Credentials are exchanged for a JWT which the client caches (the reference
    client caches it in Redis under access_token_<api_key>) and replays as a
    bearer token.
token_lifecycle:
  caching: client-side, keyed on the API key
  refresh_trigger: >-
    A 401 Not Authorized on any resource request causes the client to request a
    new access token and retry once before surfacing the error.
  expiry_published: false
credentials:
  issuance: private — issued by CarServ to integrating accounts; no public self-serve signup
  rotation_policy_published: false
status: discontinued
status_note: >-
  The authentication host is no longer resolvable; carserv.com is a parked domain.
  This profile documents the historical contract as shipped in the client library.