Issue with UserAuthentication

Making Packs
1

Hello there,

I am building a pack that I want to use in a doc.
That doc will then be shared with other people (that will copy the doc to use it for themselves).

In my pack, I use Perplexity API and UserAuthentication to store the user api key :

pack.setUserAuthentication({
  type: coda.AuthenticationType.HeaderBearerToken,
  instructionsUrl: 'https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api',
});

The issue I am facing is the following :

If someone copies my doc, but :

  1. If the user chooses to authenticate later :

Google Chrome - Copy of Test Perplexity 2 · Try
Google Chrome - Copy of Test Perplexity 2 · Try556×521 26.7 KB

  1. Then find (by miracle) the pack authent settings tab and authenticate :

Google Chrome - Copy of Test Perplexity 2 · Try

  1. Then, even if he is authenticated, all the formulas in the doc stay broken and I don’t know how to make Coda understand that the account now exists (trying to “add account” from the formula triggers the following error) :

Google Chrome - Copy of Test Perplexity 2 · Try
Google Chrome - Copy of Test Perplexity 2 · Try697×733 49.9 KB

The questions I am asking myself :

  1. How to make the doc automatically use the user’s account when it is added afterwards ?

  2. How to configure my pack so that I can “configure an account for actions” ?

Thank you for your reading, and I hope someone will have some clues about that topic :crossed_fingers: :pray:

2

Hi @Maxence_Walbrou - Thanks for raising some of this friction that you encountered. The hidden read vs write nature of a connected account is something we’ve tried to not make users have to care about, but it looks like there are still some flows that can result in dead ends.

When it comes to connecting accounts later, we recently added this button to the Insert > Packs panel that can relaunch the original connection flow you saw on copy:

image
image338Ă—593 28.5 KB

Using that flow should rewire the accounts to all the building blocks that need it, with the correct read/write settings. Give that a try and let me know if it works in your case.

More generally I’ll pass this feedback on to the product and engineering team to see if there are ways they can further improve this flow.

3 Likes
3

I am here just to say how impressed I am with the speed and accuracy of your replies, @Eric_Koleda :man_bowing:

1 Like
4

+1 ! Thank you really much @Eric_Koleda for your quick answer !

The “Set up accounts” from the insert menu works well in this case (and you allowed me to locate how to find the pack settings without using the searchbar :+1: Thanks again !).

About my 2nd question (“Configuring an account for actions is incompatible with this pack and its configuration” issue) : I noticed that I could not replicate it with other packs (OpenAI for example).

âžś How can I set my pack to allow such configuration inside formulas ?

Thank you :pray:

5

@Maxence_Walbrou - It’s hard to say exactly how you are hitting this code path without more information about your doc, account, and the Pack code. If you want to troubleshoot it in more detail I’d recommend opening a ticket with support, where they can gather the right details and you can share information in a private setting.

6

Thank you for the recommandation. I will do some further tests and may ask them after :+1:

7

About this menu “Insert” → “Packs” tab :

Do you know if it is an A/B tested feature ?
Because :

  • I can see that “Packs” tab in another Coda account (created recently for a friend of mine).
  • But I can’t see it in my personal Coda account (where I have an “Integration” tab instead, which does not show the magical “Set up accounts” option) :

Google Chrome - Untitled doc · Untitled page

1 Like
8

Yes, I believe we are running an A/B test on the menu name, and I’ve seen that in a few of my accounts as well. Sorry for the confusion!

2 Likes