To proceed, make sure you've completed the steps in [Prerequisites](https://developers.google.com/my-business/content/prereqs) and that we've approved your project for Business Profile APIs access. ## Enable the APIs > [!NOTE] > **Note:** The Google My Business API is only visible in the Google Cloud console to users who submit and receive approval for their Google Account through the access request form. For more details, see [Request access to the APIs](https://developers.google.com/my-business/content/prereqs#request-access). There are seven APIs associated with Business Profile that must be enabled in the Google Cloud console: - Google My Business API - My Business Account Management API - My Business Lodging API - My Business Place Actions API - My Business Notifications API - My Business Verifications API - My Business Business Information API ### Enable an API If you've completed all of the [Prerequisites](https://developers.google.com/my-business/content/prereqs) and have been granted access to the API, but are still unable to use the provided shortcut, you can enable the API manually with the following steps. To enable an API for your project, do the following: 1. [Open the API Library](https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library) in the Google API Console. If prompted, select a project or create a new one. The API Library lists all available APIs, grouped by product family and popularity. 2. If the API you want to enable isn't visible in the list, use search to find it. 3. Select the API you want to enable, then click the **Enable** button. 4. If prompted, enable billing. 5. If prompted, accept the API's Terms of Service. If you are a **Google workspace user** , confirm that [Google Business Profile is turned on for your account](https://support.google.com/a/answer/10623799) in your Google workspace organization. You will get \`error 403 - PERMISSION DENIED\` when using the GBP APIs if Google Business Profile is turned off for your account in your Google workspace organization. ## Request an OAuth 2.0 client ID Because your app accesses protected, non-public data, you need an [OAuth 2.0](https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/OAuth2) client ID. This lets your app request authorization to access your organization's location data on behalf of your app's users. Your application must send an OAuth 2.0 token with any Business Profile APIs request that accesses private user data. If you haven't done so already, go to the "Credentials" section of [the Google Cloud console](https://console.developers.google.com/apis/credentials) and click **Create credentials \> OAuth client ID** to create your OAuth 2.0 credentials. After you've created the credentials, you can see your client ID on the **Credentials** page. Click the client ID for details, such as client secret, redirect URIs, JavaScript origins address, and email address. ## Learn REST basics There are two ways to invoke the APIs: - Send an HTTP request and parse the responses. - Use [client libraries](https://developers.google.com/my-business/samples). If you decide not to use client libraries, you need to understand the basics of REST. REST is a style of software architecture that provides a convenient and consistent approach to request and modify data. The term REST is short for "[REST](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer)" (Representational State Transfer). In the context of Google APIs, it refers to the use of HTTP verbs to retrieve and modify representations of data stored by Google. A RESTful system stores resources in a datastore. A client sends a request for the server to perform a particular action, such as to create, retrieve, update, or delete a resource, and the server performs the action and sends a response. That response is often in the form of a representation of the specified resource. In Google's RESTful APIs, the client specifies an action with an HTTP verb, such as `GET`, `POST`, `PUT`, or `DELETE`. The client specifies a resource by a globally unique uniform resource identifier (URI) of the following form: ``` https://apiName.googleapis.com/apiVersion/resourcePath?parameters ``` Because all API resources have unique HTTP-accessible URIs, REST enables data caching and is optimized to work with the web's distributed infrastructure. You might find the [method definitions](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-4.3) in the HTTP 1.1 standards documentation useful. They include specifications for `GET`, `POST`, `PUT`, and `DELETE`. ## REST in the Business Profile APIs The Business Profile APIs operations map directly to REST HTTP verbs. The specific format for the Business Profile APIs is shown in the following URI: ``` https://apiName.googleapis.com/apiVersion/resourcePath?parameters ``` The full set of URIs used for each supported operation in the APIs appears in the Business Profile APIs [Reference](https://developers.google.com/my-business/reference/rest) documentation. Resource paths vary based on the endpoint. For example, the resource path to an account appears as in the following example: accounts/accountId The resource path for a location appears in the following form: locations/locationId ## Learn JSON basics The Business Profile APIs return data in JSON format. JavaScript Object Notation ([JSON](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON)) is a common, language-independent data format that provides a text representation of arbitrary data structures. For more information, see [json.org](http://www.json.org/). ## Use OAuth 2.0 Playground to make an HTTP request You can use the [OAuth 2.0 Playground](https://developers.google.com/oauthplayground) to experiment with the Business Profile APIs. Because the Business Profile APIs aren't public APIs, there are a few extra steps you need to take to use it in the Playground. You need a client ID for a web application to proceed. 1. Go to the [Google API Console](https://console.developers.google.com/apis/credentials) and open your project. If you don't have an OAuth client ID for web applications, create one now: 1. From the *Create credentials* drop-down list, select **OAuth client ID**. 2. For *Application type*, click **Web Application**. 3. Add the following as a valid redirect URI: ``` https://developers.google.com/oauthplayground ``` 4. Click **Create**. 2. Copy the client ID to the clipboard. 3. Go to [OAuth 2.0 Playground](https://developers.google.com/oauthplayground). 4. Click the gear icon to open the configuration options and make the following changes: 1. Set *OAuth flow* to **Client-side**. 2. Select **Use your own OAuth credentials**. 3. Paste in your OAuth client ID. 5. Close the configuration options. 6. Under "Step 1 - Select \& authorize APIs," paste the following scope for the Business Profile APIs into the *Input your own scopes* field: ``` https://www.googleapis.com/auth/business.manage ``` 7. Click **Authorize APIs**. 8. Click **Accept** when prompted. 9. Under "Step 2 - Configure request to API," paste the following URI into the *Request URI* field: ``` https://mybusinessaccountmanagement.googleapis.com/v1/accounts ``` 10. Click **Send the request** . The response should show a status of `200 OK`. For more information about how to make various types of requests, see the [Business Profile APIs Reference](https://developers.google.com/my-business/reference/rest). > [!NOTE] > **Note:** There's no Sandbox environment for the Business Profile APIs. Some calls allow for a `validateOnly` query parameter that, when set to `true`, validates a request without changes made. > [!NOTE] > **Note:** The OAuth 2.0 playground automatically adds debugging headers. If you use a different client and would like to view detailed error messages in the response, add the following header to the request: `X-GOOG-API-FORMAT-VERSION: 2` ## Client libraries The Business Profile APIs client libraries support the functionality of the Business Profile APIs. They provide functionality common to all Google APIs, such as HTTP transport, error handling, authentication, and JSON parsing. To download client libraries, see [Libraries](https://developers.google.com/my-business/samples).