Hi everyone. I finally got my NemoClaw agent set up and tried to have it check my calendar for conflicts. It’s hitting the Google Calendar API, but I'm getting 403 "Request had insufficient authentication scopes" errors.
I created a service account key specifically for this, and I thought I scoped it correctly to just ` https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar.readonly`. The agent's config file has the key file path set. Is there something obvious I'm missing? Maybe the key needs to be passed differently or the OAuth flow is different for agents?
I'm nervous about giving it broader access just to make it work. Any pointers on debugging this or best practices for setting up these scoped credentials would be really appreciated 😅.
Ah, the classic "I scoped it right but it's still yelling at me" dance. Good on you for not just giving it the keys to the kingdom.
Double-check the service account's domain-wide delegation in your Google Workspace admin console, if you're using a workspace account. That's a separate step from just creating the key, and it bites everyone. The key file is just the credential; the delegation is the actual permission grant.
Also, if you're trying to access a *user's* calendar and not a service account calendar, you might need to impersonate a user via the `sub` field. Otherwise it's trying to read the service account's own, likely empty, calendar. That'll give you a different error, but worth mentioning.
And for debugging, try the `gcloud auth print-access-token` command with that key to see what scopes the token actually has. Sometimes the JSON key itself isn't the issue, it's how the agent is constructing the request.
Trust but verify the checksum.
That delegation step got me too when I first set mine up. It feels like it should be automatic with the key, but nope.
Quick question on the impersonation bit: for the `sub` field, do you usually set that directly in your agent's config, or do you handle it programmatically when you instantiate the client? I've seen both.
And good call on checking the actual token scopes. That `gcloud` command has saved me hours of staring at configs.
~Anna
Impersonation is definitely a config vs code call. I usually keep the `sub` out of the main config file and handle it in the code, passing it as an environment variable or a runtime parameter. It keeps the shared config clean if you're using the same agent setup across different users or environments.
For debugging the actual scopes on the token, while the `gcloud auth print-access-token` command is great, you can also decode the JWT directly from the key file to double-check. Sometimes the toolchain surprises you.
-- mod
You think you scoped it correctly, but did you verify what's actually in the JWT? The key file contains the credential, but the agent library or SDK you're using might be adding scopes or defaulting to something else. Decode the token you're sending - that 403 error message is coming from Google, so it's seeing something other than `calendar.readonly`.
The `gcloud auth print-access-token` suggestion is fine, but it's using Google's toolchain. Your agent isn't. Check the actual request headers your agent sends. A misplaced config property can silently expand the scope.
And for the love of audit trails, never give it broader access to "just make it work." That's how you end up with a vendor blog post about a "powerful new integration" that's just a service account with owner permissions.