Connection and authentication failures
Lesson 19 of 21 6 min read
When an Integration stops connecting, it's usually credentials. Learn the checks to make, in order, and what to send Support if they don't solve it.
An Integration that worked yesterday and doesn't today has usually lost its right to connect. Credentials expire, get revoked, or are changed on the other side. This lesson gives you a short, ordered set of checks that solves most of these problems in minutes.
Why connections fail
- Credentials expired or revoked. Common with sign-in based (OAuth) Integrations such as Shopify and WooCommerce. OAuth is the "log in and approve access" style of connection, and that approval can be withdrawn.
- API keys rotated. Someone generated a new key in the other system, which invalidates the old one.
- Permissions changed. The user or app Supply Lens connects as no longer has the access it needs.
- The app was uninstalled on the other side.
- The Integration is disabled in Supply Lens.
Work through these checks
- Is the Integration enabled? On Settings → Integration setup → Integrations, expand the Integration and check Activation is set to Enabled. The list also shows an Enabled badge on Integrations that are switched on.
- Is it uninstalled? A grey Uninstalled label and greyed-out panel mean the connection was removed on the other system's side. Reconnect it from that system; for Shopify, the Supply Lens app in your Shopify admin can reconnect an uninstalled store.
- Are the credentials still valid in the other system? In the app you're connecting to, check API access is still enabled, the keys haven't been revoked, and the user or app Supply Lens uses still has the permissions it needs.
- Update the credentials in Supply Lens. If anything changed, open the Integration's Credentials card and edit them. You don't need to remove and reconnect the Integration.
- Run it manually with Run send & receive and check whether new data arrives or is sent.
The Monday key rotation
On Monday morning no warehouse orders have reached Brookside since Friday evening. Priya expands the Unleashed Integration: it's enabled and not uninstalled. She asks Hilltop's finance manager, the Unleashed Account Owner, who remembers regenerating the API key on Friday afternoon as part of a security review. He shares the new key; Priya updates it on the Credentials card and clicks Run send & receive. Within minutes, the weekend's warehouse orders are on their way to Brookside.
Tell Supply Lens before you rotate keys
Agree a rule with whoever manages your other systems: if they rotate an API key or change the user Supply Lens connects as, they update the Integration's credentials at the same time, or tell you first.
When to contact Support
If the problem continues after these checks, contact Support at support@supplylens.co.uk and include the Integration ID, visible on the Integration tile. Describe what you checked and when the Integration last worked.
Good to know
If the live connection indicator in the Supply Lens top bar shows a warning badge, that's about your browser's live updates to the Supply Lens screen, not about an Integration. Live updates reconnect by themselves; refresh the page if they don't.
Recap
- Most connection failures are expired, revoked or rotated credentials, or changed permissions.
- Check Activation, check for an Uninstalled label, then check the credentials in the other system.
- Fix credentials on the Credentials card without reconnecting, then run the Integration manually.
- Contact Support with the Integration ID if the checks don't solve it.
Quick guides for this topic
Your progress is saved in this browser. Create a free account to keep it everywhere, take quizzes and earn certificates.