403 "Current user not permitted to use Confluence" when using OAuth 2.0 Service Account token with Confluence Search API

Confluence Development Confluence Cloud
1

I’m trying to access the Confluence Search API using an OAuth 2.0 service account, but I’m getting a 403 Forbidden error.

What I’ve done

  1. Created a service account.
  2. Generated a Client ID and Client Secret.
  3. Granted the scope:
    • read:page:confluence
  4. Generated an access token using the service account credentials.

I’m calling the following API:

GET https://api.atlassian.com/ex/confluence/{cloudId}/wiki/rest/api/search?cql=space="FAQ" AND type="page" AND created >= "2026-07-01" AND created <= now()

The response is:

{
  "message": "Current user not permitted to use Confluence",
  "statusCode": 403
}

What I’ve verified

If I call the equivalent Confluence site endpoint using Basic Authentication (email + API token):

GET https://your-domain.atlassian.net/wiki/rest/api/search?cql=space="FAQ" AND type="page" AND created >= "2026-07-01" AND created <= now()

I receive a successful response with the expected results.

My question is

  1. Are there additional OAuth scopes required beyond read:page:confluence?
  2. Any changes needed in the api?

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

2

Welcome to the Atlassian Developer Community forums, @AkhilMohanan!

Since you’re using the Search Content REST API, you need to use the search:confluence scope.

Do try it out and let us know how it goes.

Cheers,

Ian