Selecting an Authentication

An Authentication is a set of user credentials for an App that is stored securely by Zapier. When required, a user must select which of the Authentications they have for that App (they may have multiple) that they would like to use when a Zap executes.

We can fetch a list of Authentications available for an App by making a request to the /authentications endpoint:

// GET /authentications?app=4b3920d6-1d5a-4071-b837-9383dc511b80
{
  "data": [
    {
      "type": "authentication",
      "id": "49509",
      "app": "4b3920d6-1d5a-4071-b837-9383dc511b80",
      "title": "SuperExampleCRM (wade@zapier.com)",
      "is_expired": false
    },
    {
      "type": "authentication",
      "id": "96983",
      "app": "4b3920d6-1d5a-4071-b837-9383dc511b80",
      "title": "SuperExampleCRM (bryan@zapier.com)",
      "is_expired": false
    }
  ]
}

Our user can then select one of these Authentications to use with a Zap.

​

When no Authentications exist

It’s possible that the user doesn’t have any Authentications for an App they’ve picked, as in every case when it’s a new Zapier account. In these cases the /authentications endpoint will return an empty list under the data key. In this scenario, we should direct the user to the url provided by the /apps endpoint under the links.connect_new_authentication key to add a new Authentication.

This is also the best approach to take if you want to offer the user the option to use a new Authentication with this Zap, even if they already have Authentications available. (e.g. If the user wants to use a different SuperExampleCRM account than the ones already linked to Zapier)

​

Directing the user to create a new Authentication

The best way to use this links.connect_new_authentication link is as follows:

// 1. Open a popup window to the `links.  connect_new_authentication` url. 
const authPopup = window.open(app.links.  connect_new_authentication, '_blank', 'width=1280,height=1024');
if (!authPopup) {
    alert("Please allow popups to continue.");
  return;
}

// 2. Add an event listener to be alerted when the user has completed the auth flow.
window.addEventListener('message', function(event) {
  if (event.origin === 'https://zapier.com') {
    const action = event.data;
    if (action?.type === "zapier.popup.close") {
      if (authPopup) {  // In case popup has already been closed
        authPopup.close();
      }
      const new_authentication_id = action.authentication_id;
      // 3. Use `new_authentication_id` to continue the Zap creation process.
      // The `new_authentication_id` is the id of the authentication that the 
      // user just created.
    }
  }
});

​

When Authentication is not required

Some apps don’t require authentication at all - like Webhooks. You’ll know this is the case when fetching the app and it’s not possible to add a new authentication.

...
"links": {
          "connect_new_authentication": null
        },
...

When creating zaps with these apps, null should be passed in place of a valid authentication id;