I setup a new key for Public API access for a server application under my the APIs & auth > Credentials screen on the Google Developers Console.
Doing a YouTube data api request just stopped working and as a last ditch effort I regenerated the key. Now I'm seeing that the status row now states that it will be active until 1 day in the future. Why? I want this key to be active forever.
Is this Google's way of forcing me to use oAuth on a server app?
When using OAuth 2.0 you'll go through the OAuth flow and end up with an Access token and a Refresh token.
The Access token is short-lived and will expire relatively quickly. The Refresh token is long-lived and might expire in a year, or maybe never.
You can Refresh your Access token and use the new token that you receive: