Google Authentication – Setup

Cyclr Partner Setup within Google

Google makes use of OAuth 2.0 for remote API access. You must register your Cyclr Console with Google by creating your own Google Project which enables you to obtain OAuth Client ID and Client Secret values required as part of connecting to Google’s APIs.

For your reference, here is a link to Google’s own documentation.

Note: For Google to verify your Google Project as part of making it production-ready and accessible to your customers, you must use a custom Cyclr Service Domain.
Also, be aware that if you change your Cyclr Service Domain, you will need to re-authenticate any existing Google Connectors.

Registering Your Cyclr Console

1. Create a Project

Sign up for a Google account, or log into your existing account if you have one, then go to your Google Cloud Console to create a new Project, and enable the relevant Google APIs.

  1. Click your organization name at the top to open the Project Picker:

  1. Select the option to create a New project, in the top right:

  1. Enter a name for your Project – typically the name of your service or application – and optionally set the Project ID to something other than the suggested value:

2. Set Application Details

  1. From the navigation menu in the top left, select APIs and services:
  1. That takes you to the APIs and services dashboard:
  1. From there, select the OAuth consent screen – this is where you define details that your customers will see when authenticating the Google Cyclr Connector you’re creating this Project for.

    It’s typically better to create separate Google Projects for each Cyclr Connector you wish to use (Gmail, Google Sheets, etc), each with access to only the Google APIs which that Connector needs.
  2. Select the Get started button to continue:
  1. Enter values that will be shown to your customers when authenticating the Cyclr Connector:
  1. Under Audience, you should select “External” when creating a production-ready Google Project.

    During testing, you can choose “Internal” which restricts your Project so that only users within your organization can authenticate through it, but avoids needing to have Google verify your Project when you’re still testing, as that can take some time.
  1. Once you reach step 4 Finish, you must read and agree to the Google API services user data policy to continue and create your Project.

3. Obtain a Client ID and Client Secret

  1. When you’re returned to the OAuth overview page, select Clients on the left:
  1. Select + Create client:
  1. Set the Application type to Web application:
  1. Enter a Name for the OAuth 2.0 Client ID you’re creating.
    This name is only used to identify the client in the Google Console and will not be shown to your customers.
  2. Under Authorized redirect URIs, add your Cyclr Console’s Callback URL.

Select the Create button and you’ll be presented with your Google Project’s OAuth Client ID and Client secret values which are needed within Cyclr. The Client secret is only visible once so be sure to copy it from the popup:

If you miss the Client secret or need to create a new one for any reason, you can do that by editing the Client ID’s setup.

4. Enable Google APIs

Google’s services (Sheets, Gmail, Calendar, etc) are offered as separate APIs which you must individually enable within the Google Cloud Console for your Project.

Which APIs you enable depends on which Cyclr Connector you wish to work with, and some Connectors require more than one Google API to be enabled for them to be fully functional.

Example: the Google Sheets Connector requires you to enable the “Google Sheets API” and the “Google Drive API” for the Project you’re using.

If you only enable the “Google Sheets API”, Cyclr will be able to work with data within a Spreadsheet, but it won’t have access to list the available Spreadsheet files to choose from as that’s provided by the “Google Drive API”.

For each API you require, follow these steps:

  1. From the Google API Console, go to APIs & Services.
  2. On the Dashboard click the +ENABLE APIS AND SERVICES button at the top.
  3. Either enter part of the name of a Google API, “sheets” for example, or scroll to find it.
  4. Click the API’s button when displayed.
  5. On the next page click the API’s ENABLE button.

Return to the APIs & Services page.

At present, only the Google Sheets Connector requies multiple APIs to be enabled, which are:

  • Google Sheets API
  • Google Drive API

Additional Setup for Google AdWords

The Google AdWords connector requires additional setup before you can access its API.

  1. Sign in or sign up for a Google AdWords manager account. This must be the top level owner account for your AdWords management.
  2. On the navigation bar at the top of the AdWords manager page, go to Tools & Settings > SETUP > AdWords API Centre
  3. Complete the form to create a developer token
  4. Once you have created a developer token, go to Access level > Apply for Basic Access
  5. Submit the AdWords API Token Application

Make a note of your developer token, you will need it when you use Google AdWords methods in Cyclr.

Please note you will not be able to use this connector with production accounts until Google has approved your application. This restriction does not apply to test accounts. If you wish to use the connector with test accounts, please follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to the Google Ads manager accounts page, and create a test manager account.
  2. Use the Google Ads UI to create a test client account under the test manager account you created above. While logged in to Google Ads as your test manager account, any client accounts you create will automatically be test accounts.
  3. Create a few test campaigns using the test client account.
  4. Make note of the client customer ID for the client account, this is what you will enter when setting up the connector for testing.

Possible Issues with Refresh Tokens

There are a few situations that can cause the following error to occur when Cyclr attempts to refresh its Connector authentication details with Google:

{
    "error" : "invalid_grant",
    "error_description" : "Token has been expired or revoked."
}

This could be caused by the user that authenticated the Connector having changed their password, or your Google Project being in a “Testing” status while Google verify it which results in refresh tokens that are only valid for 7 days.

More causes can be found in Google’s Documentation.