JWT Authentication

SwiftPanda16
Tue, 23 Sep 2025 21:09:00 +0000
Dev/API Corner

I would like some clarification for JWT Authentication in the Plex API documentation.

https://developer.plex.tv/pms/#section/API-Info/Authenticating-with-Plex

The documentation says there are two authentication methods:

1. JWT Authentication

2. Traditional Token Authentication (Legacy)

The first step in the JWT Authentication is the device key registration which requires the header X-Plex-Token: your-existing-token.

How do I get the existing token in the first place? Do I still need to use the Traditional Token Authentication (Legacy) method initially to get an account token before I can use JWT Authentication? In which case it’s not really the “legacy” method.

Side note: I believe there is a typo in the last step of the JWT Authentication. The URL should be pointing to a Plex Media Server instead of to clients.plex.tv.

Side side note: Can we get a new forum tag for the API?

30 posts - 13 participants