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Meet
Merchant API
- the official successor to the Content API for Shopping.
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Get the latest
on new features, bug fixes, and release updates of the Merchant API.
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Set up Content API access
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Summary
To use the Content API for Shopping with a given Merchant Center account, you
must set up an API Console project. API Console projects help you manage API
access and authentication for your Content API solution.
Manual steps
There are two ways you can authenticate to use the Content API for Shopping
depending on whose merchant accounts you need to access:
- Access your own Merchant Center account
- If you only need to access your account (and sub-accounts, if using a
multi-client account), then we suggest using service accounts. See the
Service accounts guide for the steps to create a service account from the
Merchant Center.
- Access other merchants' accounts
- If you plan to manage other Merchant Center accounts as a third-party, see the
OAuth guide.
Once you have the appropriate authentication tokens, you can test your
authentication setup with the Shopping samples, which support both service
account and OAuth2 client authentication. These samples use the
Content API client libraries, which we recommend using in your own
applications if you're using a supported language. Otherwise, you can use the
REST API directly.
Automatic steps
Not available for this process.
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC.
[null,null,["Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eTo use the Content API for Shopping, you need to set up an API Console project for API access and authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can authenticate using service accounts for accessing your own Merchant Center account or OAuth for managing other merchants' accounts.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor testing and development, Google provides Shopping samples and client libraries for easier integration with the Content API.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIf your programming language isn't supported by the client libraries, you can directly use the REST API.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Set up Content API access\n\nSummary\n-------\n\nTo use the Content API for Shopping with a given Merchant Center account, you\nmust set up an [API Console](https://console.developers.google.com) project. API Console projects help you manage API\naccess and authentication for your Content API solution.\n\nManual steps\n------------\n\nThere are two ways you can authenticate to use the Content API for Shopping\ndepending on whose merchant accounts you need to access:\n\nAccess your own Merchant Center account\n: If you only need to access your account (and sub-accounts, if using a\n multi-client account), then we suggest using service accounts. See the\n [Service accounts](/shopping-content/guides/how-tos/service-accounts) guide for the steps to create a service account from the\n [Merchant Center](https://merchants.google.com).\n\nAccess other merchants' accounts\n: If you plan to manage other Merchant Center accounts as a third-party, see the\n [OAuth](/shopping-content/guides/how-tos/authorizing) guide.\n\nOnce you have the appropriate authentication tokens, you can test your\nauthentication setup with the [Shopping samples](https://github.com/googleads/googleads-shopping-samples), which support both service\naccount and OAuth2 client authentication. These samples use the\n[Content API client libraries](/shopping-content/guides/libraries), which we recommend using in your own\napplications if you're using a supported language. Otherwise, you can use the\n[REST API](/shopping-content/reference/rest/v2.1) directly.\n\nAutomatic steps\n---------------\n\nNot available for this process."]]
