Signing in to a provider
Some vendors do not want an API key pasted into a box — they want you to approve the app in a browser. Settings shows a Log in button on those vendors' rows, next to Configure.
What happens
Pressing it opens a dialog and starts the flow. Most vendors use a device code: the app shows you a short code, you open the vendor's page, type the code there and approve, and the core polls the vendor until it confirms.
The dialog carries everything you need for that:
- The code, large and in a monospace face, with a Copy code button.
- The link, as a button that opens the page in your real browser — not inside the app. When the vendor supplies a URL with the code already embedded, that is the one the button opens, and you do not have to type anything at all.
- The expiry, when the vendor states one. Codes usually last about fifteen minutes.
- A live line at the bottom that tracks the flow: starting, waiting for you to approve it, waiting for the vendor to confirm.
You can leave the app while this runs. The core keeps polling.
When it finishes
On success the dialog closes by itself and the provider table refreshes — the vendor's row now reads configured. There is nothing to dismiss.
On failure the dialog stays open and shows what went wrong: an expired code, a refused approval, a vendor that answered with an error. Close it and try again, or use Configure to paste an API key instead.
Cancel closes the dialog. It does not undo an approval you have already given in the browser.
OAuth vendors
A vendor using plain OAuth rather than a device code has no code to show. The dialog still opens and still tracks the phases, but the page you approve on handles everything, and you come back to a dialog that has already closed itself.
Vendors with no browser login
Not every vendor offers one. Those rows have no Log in button, and if a flow turns out to be unsupported the dialog says so and points you at Configure, where an API key goes.