Adwords Scope permissions? Question on User Self Reporting app

[Scott G]

Hi, 

I'm an analyst interested in building a portfolio showcase web app (python / dash) which allows an adwords user to log in and see their own adwords data utilizing my front end. 

My question is that if my app utilizes my own client id, secret, etc. and then allows login via SSO w/ the scope "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/adwords", would this allow a user to view their own data in that session or would I have have an "Ad Manager" / MCC Account relation to their Ads Account "the client" in order to show them their own information in this app? 

I'm just looking for clarity on this relationship before I start developing. 

Thanks!

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Scott, 

You could do it either ways. If the account is linked with your Google Ads Manager account, you can use your client credentials (client id and client secret) and OAuth tokens (access token and refresh token) to access any account's data in your manager account's hierarchy. You could display the data based on the logged in user's client customer id.

If the accounts are not linked, you could use your client credentials and have the user who has access to the target account (typically your client) to authorize the OAuth set up (generate the authorization code while setting up the OAuth). And use this authorization code to generate the OAuth tokens. Then use this set of credentials to make API calls against the client's account. In this set up, you will have different set of credentials for each account. This wiki guide shows how to have API access on behalf of your clients in Java. 

Please let me know if you have any additional questions. 

Thanks,
Sreelakshmi, AdWords API Team